Kiwanis prepare for Pancake Day

FINDLAY — A long-standing fundraiser continues March 1. Pancake Day hosted by the Kiwanis Club of Findlay will be held from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Findlay High School cafeteria. The annual event sees club members flipping pancakes and cooking up sausage patties to feed hordes of hungry customers while raising funds to support the youth of Hancock County. This year marks the 67th year for the fundraiser, said Ashley Ritz, co-chair of the event. Service club members are expecting to dish up 6,000 pancakes and 4,000 pork sausage patties from Green's Quality Meats, a butcher shop in Celina. "We only do it for a few hours now, just 7-1. But they used to do it all day from what they tell me when they first started," said Ritz. She said it takes a lot of volunteers to put the event together. "We have close to 100 members in our club. So with everybody that comes together, we make it work," she said. A traditional menu will be served including all-you-can-eat pancakes and sausage with a beverage. "We don't change it up too much," said Ritz. "We stick to the pancakes and sausage. So usually the people who do the batter mixing, they're the same people every year, same people cooking the sausage, same pancake flippers. So everybody knows their role and everybody's competent at it." The fundraiser typically brings in about $30,000, she noted. "The club has a lot of projects. It's because of fundraisers like Pancake Day," Ritz said. "If we didn't have this type of fundraiser, we wouldn't be able to do nearly any of those projects." Presale tickets are $7 for adults and $6 for seniors ages 62 and older and children 12 and under. Tickets are available from any Findlay Kiwanian or at AAA, 1550 Tiffin Avenue; Heavenly Pizza, 1132 Tiffin Avenue; and State Bank, 408 S. Main Street, Suite A. On the day of the event, tickets will be $1 more - $8 for adults and $7 for seniors and children. "We welcome anybody to come to the door as well if you're not able to find tickets ahead of time," she said. The inaugural "Pancake Festival" was held in October 1958 at the Elks. Pancakes and sausage were served from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. The event was heavily advertised which drew scores of hungry community members who were lined up out the door and down the street. Ritz said this is a fun event for members and diners. "It's easy, right? Like pancakes and sausage, it's just fun and easy to do together. We do try to make it fun," she said. One of the things people seem to enjoy is watching the celebrity flippers. "So we have a few grills that will be up front where we'll have some well-known folks from the community we call celebrity flippers. They volunteer for an hour or so and they're out there interacting with the crowd and generating some pancakes as well for us," she said. There's also a kids zone. Ritz said the Dolly Parton Imagination Library will be there signing up children for the program. The YMCA will also have some activities. "There will be a set-up to be able to screen kids that are there for colorblindness to see if they would be eligible for the EnChroma glasses. We thought it was a great way to reach kids that maybe we weren't getting through the schools," she said. Awakening Minds Art will offer some activities. A Girl Scout troop Blanchard Valley Center will also have tables, said Ritz. A 50/50 drawing will be held approximately every hour. New this year, she said, is a pancake eating contest. "So we have a few different Kiwanians and community members that will be battling to see who can eat the most pancakes," she said. The contest is schedule for about 10 a.m. "Ironically enough, the prize is a one-month free membership to the YMCA so they can work off all those pancakes they ate," she laughed. Those attending at the right time may also get a chance to hear a rousing rendition of the "Pancake Song" that was written by club member Irvin Reinhart. The past president and lifelong Kiwanian loves Pancake Day, so he wrote a song about it, she said. Findlay High School has been good to the club over the years by providing special electrical outlets for the six griddles they use for cooking, and ordering food and supplies for the event. "We're excited. We're looking forward to getting the community together, feeding people with some pancakes and sausage, and raising some money for our community so we can help out various projects," said Ritz. Some of those programs include Brucklacher Memorial Park at the Little Red Schoolhouse, Kiwanis Closets, EnChroma Glasses, Amtrykes to provide mobility to children with physical disabilities, Santa's House and scholarships. Kiwanis also builds future leaders through its service leadership programs: K-Kids, at McComb Elementary School; Builders Club, McComb Middle School; Key Club, Findlay High School; and Aktion Club, Blanchard Valley Center. The club meets at noon every Wednesday at the DOCK at St. Marks United Methodist Church, 800 S. Main Street. Meetings are open to anybody who would like to join or just check out the club. "We're a very active group in the community and anybody that would want to get involved is welcome to join us as a guest," said Ritz.