Whatever Happened To Churchie, The Mascot Of Church's Chicken?

Fast food mascots tend to run the gamut from the Burger King's rubbery-faced weirdness to Wendy's spunky sass to those cows urging customers to "eat mor" Chick-fil-A. Some mascots, however, seem to fly under the radar to the point where hardly anybody knows they even exist — remember Arby's Oven Mitt? Didn't think so. Another forgotten mascot is Churchie, the spokes — um, character — for Church's Chicken.

Churchie in his original incarnation was a chubby little chef, and according to a timeline on Church's website, he's been with the chain since it started in the 1950s. Church's also tweeted a pic of their "loveable [sic] mascot" that revealed how Churchie even had his own catchphrase: "Life's too short to skimp on chicken." At some point during Churchie-the-chef's three-decade tenure, the chain even had tie tacks made up in his image that were awarded to "exceptional members of the Church's family" (via Facebook).

Sometime in the 1980s, Churchie stopped being a person and turned into a giant chicken. Nobody seems to know why, and we're not even sure when (or much less how), but a photo from The Portal to Texas History shows Churchie 2.0 marching in a parade circa 1988.

It appears that Churchie the chicken was around until fairly recently, with one Facebook post showing him making an appearance at a Texas high school football game in September of 2014. He also appears to be doing a line dance with a group of Church's employees in an undated yet contemporary-appearing Glassdoor photo, and is a face in the crowd at a Texas Church's Chicken ribbon-cutting ceremony from July 2019 (via Harker Heights Chamber of Commerce). 

So yes, Churchie (in his more recent avian incarnation) is still around, he's just keeping things low-key and local. And refreshingly un-creepy, as well, which is a welcome quality in a mascot of any kind.