INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

Hundreds Show Up In Oklahoma For Cookout With ‘Sad Papaw,’ Dubbed The World’s Saddest Grandpa

By Pam Wright
Published on: 06:50 PST, Mar 27, 2016

“Sad papaw” isn’t so sad anymore!

Kenneth Harmon (aka Papaw) became the Internet’s darling earlier this month when his granddaughter shared a photo of him looking downcast after only one of his six grandkids showed up for a hamburger dinner he prepared for them.

But tears turned to joy on Saturday when at least 100 people from around the country showed up in Oklahoma to attend a cookout for “Sad Papaw.”

As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Brock Harmon, one of Harmon’s grandchildren, who was likely feeling a little guilty, announced the cookout on March 18. He said the event would feature Harmon’s own handmade burgers, which would be sold for $2, as well as t-shirts reading “I had a burger with Papaw” for sale – and “everyone” was invited.

And the people came — from everywhere.

In the hundreds of photos posted to social media with the hashtag #papawcookout, people stood in long lines to join the cookout and take a selfie with Harmon decked out in his own “I ate a burger with SAD PAPAW” T-shirt and a huge grin on his face.

Granddaughter Kelsey Harmon initially tweeted the now-viral photo of Harmon looking oh so sad at a dinner table, eating one of the 12 burgers he prepared with love for his grandchildren. She included the caption: “dinner with papaw tonight… he made 12 burgers for all 6 grandkids and I’m the only one who showed. love him.”

The photo received more than 300,000 likes was retweeted more than 181,000, which led Brock to take to his own Twitter account to let the world know that “Sad Papaw” was not forgotten.

In an interview to Inside Edition, “Sad Papaw” Harmon reassured the world that he is not mad at his grandchildren.

“There was a failure to communicate. I thought that everybody was invited, but that’s not the way it turned out. There was some grandkids who didn’t know about it.”

“Sad Papaw” said it all started after he had gone to watch granddaughter Kelsey, 19, play softball the weekend before the dinner, according to the Daily Mail.

“She told me she might have a few days to come home, so I said ‘let me know and I’ll get this get together, I’ll cook something for us. She called me on Wednesday morning and I called my son Ryan to bring his kids over.”

Kenny, who has three grown sons, six adopted children and six grandchildren, thought all the grandkids were coming, so he got to preparing his famous burgers.

Kelsey arrived to an empty house and and posted her “Sad Papaw” tweet, which made the rounds on the Internet in record speed.

Her brother, car salesman Kaleb, actually did arrive late to the dinner, but the tweet was already on its way to becoming viral.

Son Ryan simply forgot about the dinner, said Kenny.

“I called him to ask whether he and his kids would be coming over but he was busy at work and forgot to tell them. These things happen, so I wasn’t too sad, it was a misunderstanding. So I cooked hamburgers that evening then Kelsey came in first then Kaleb came in later and it wound up being just me, Kaleb, Kelsey and my dad.”

Who else is happy that “Sad Papaw” is now “Happy Papaw?”

[Image via Shuttertsock]

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