Fans launch petition to save Maryland Fried Chicken

Fans of the Winter Garden Maryland Fried Chicken restaurant have launched a petition in an attempt to save the longtime restaurant.

A Facebook user using the name Jeff Schwenneker authored the petition, which is hosted on change.org.

"Winter Garden's Maryland Fried Chicken has been a mainstay in the community for (more than) 55 years," Schwenneker wrote in the petition. "Established in the 1950s to cater to the homesick appetites of relocated Baltimoreans who moved to Orlando with the Glenn L. Martin Co. (now Lockheed Martin Corp.), Maryland Fried has become a place of comfort for all in the community. 

"Many a family has pulled underneath the 35-foot-tall neon chicken for a quick dinner after a Little League game or picked up a fried turkey on Thanksgiving to save time in the kitchen to be better spent with family," he wrote "Maryland Fried Chicken has been a comforter to countless souls as it has catered delicacies feed friends and family in a church dining hall after the passing of a loved one. When a now-grown child yearns for the distant memory of their innocent youth, they lean on the two most connected senses to one's memory — smell and taste. The smell of the delicious peanut oil fried chicken and the salty taste of its perfectly balanced brine and crunch of the crispy skin of a chicken leg bring back memories of the lost innocence of youth. Memories of a parent and child solving their day's challenges over a yellow box containing a two-piece mixed with double fries and a large sweet tea in a foam cup."