BRUNSWICK — By noon Thursday, the parking lot at Fat Boy Drive-In was full. So were many of the Fat Boy devotees who made a pilgrimage to the Bath Road eatery to welcome spring — and Fat Boy’s return — with a Whoper Burger, BLT, frappe or fries.

Diners like Beverly Wrigley came from as far as Oakland for the restaurant’s first day of the season, and even an opportunistic sea gull caught the news, returning to a perch above the crowd of cars.

As co-owner Ken Burton set out window trays awaiting their Fat Boy cargo and his wife, Jeanne Burton, worked the register, the couple said the first hour back in business had been busy.

For Wrigley, the unusually warm, spring-like weather prompted thoughts of a trip down to the coast, which she said has always involved a stop at the restaurant, which has been serving roadside fare every spring, summer and fall since 1955.

“We like to go down and check out Lands End and make a day of it,” Wrigley said.

She was joined by friends Rachel Johnson of Augusta and Betty Pierce of Belgrade.

Wrigley said the group tries to make the trip every year for the car dining experience.

“It’s nice to be out here and just watch the traffic come and go,” Wrigley said.

[email protected]