BEECH GROVE, Ind. — Hoosiers got a brush with fame in the unlikeliest of places over the weekend: the Beech Grove Walmart parking lot. None other than Ron Burgundy himself, Will Ferrell, was spotted with a production crew there on Sunday night.
Mike Earnest said he was at a nearby Kroger on S. Emerson Avenue when he saw a friend’s post on Facebook about the comedian.
“I drove the short distance over to Walmart. As soon as I pulled in the parking lot, there was him and his crew filming a scene,” Earnest described. “I could tell which one Will was because he was so much taller than everyone else.”
According to Earnest, Ferrell’s production crew told him they were filming a road trip style documentary about the comedian, and their stop in Beech Grove was “random.”
Meeting Ferrell was especially meaningful for Earnest. Earnest told the actor that while he was deployed in Iraq, he would often watch Ferrell’s movies with his fellow soldiers.
“He thanked me for sharing that story and said he loved to hear that and also thanked me for my service.”
It was Tasha Ramey’s Facebook post that alerted Earnest about the star’s surprising visit to Beech Grove.
Ramey got to meet the former “Saturday Night Live” star as well and described him as “nice and down to earth.”
“He made jokes on the phone with my son who was on FaceTime while at home cleaning his room [and] asked me how I got my son to clean his room,” Ramey described.
Savanah Rivera also got to see the “Anchorman” star in person.
“My inner child is healed,” she said in a video shared on Facebook. “I got to see THE ELF. I’m going to the theaters to see that movie when it comes out. I’m wondering what he’ll say about Indy.”
The Beech Grove Walmart has somewhat reached notoriety in the Indianapolis area. It was the site of a fight that went viral in 2015, and shots have been fired there at least twice within the the past two years.
