Hundreds gather for Hooters candlelight vigil in West Virginia as mourners cry and share calendars

A Hooters location in Charleston, West Virginia, saw hundreds gather for a candlelight vigil in honor of the building being demolished to make way for a gas station.

Former employees and residents gathered to share hugs and tears while mourning the loss of the building via candlelight. The location had become a local landmark before its closure.

A sizeable group of young men also gathered at the building site to hoot, holler, and even crowd-surf.

"Long live Hooters!" the crowd yelled, as the youngsters screamed enthusiastically into local news cameras.

What reportedly started as a joke between friends gained traction on social media and became something of a meme, garnering international attention and coverage from many media outlets.

It gained so much traction, in fact, that Hooters corporate caught wind of the event and had Hooters calendars shipped overnight to be handed out to the mourners.

The closing of the building was called the end of an era by local outlet WCHSTV. Even residents from South Carolina reportedly drove through the night to attend the alleged "one-in-a-lifetime event;" a drive that likely took at least four hours.

'"For all the naysayers, the doubters, the down-talkers and whatnot. This building right here was a legitimate iconic figure to the Kanawha Valley," co-organizer Leo Browning told attendees.

A group of former Hooters employees also attended the event and were pictured embracing each other as tears streamed down their faces during a final reunion.

"I started out coming in to get a job and it became so much more because I met so many lifelong friends and my co-workers," former Hooters girl Danielle Hughart said.

"Yes this is [West Virginia]," one attendee wrote on Instagram. "Why wouldn't we have a candle light vigil for our H00ts being demolished??? Hooters give us another one," she wrote.

"It's a lot of memories going down with that building," local resident Noah Collins added.

The vigil also doubled as a fundraiser for a child who allegedly has a very rare disease. The organizers made announcements and were hoping to get donations from attendees.

"One of our close friend's daughters, she was just diagnosed with a very, very rare disease, and it's very serious. If she don't get help, then she's not going to be with us much longer," Browning told the crowd.

The demolished Hooters building is set to be replaced with a Sheetz gas station. Sheetz Inc. is an American-owned gas station founded in 1952 with over 700 locations.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!