Prepping for Pancake Day

FINDLAY — For nearly 70 years, Pancake Day has been a tradition for the Kiwanis Club of Findlay. The annual event sees club members and celebrities flipping flapjacks and frying up sausage to feed hordes of hungry customers while also raising funds to support the youth of Hancock County. Katie Abbott is president-elect of the club which this year is hosting the 68th annual fundraiser on March 7. "And part of the responsibility of that role is to chair Pancake Day," she explained. "But I have an amazing committee working with me and a team, and so it's coming together and we're excited for it." Abbott said the experience has been fun. "My father was part of the Kiwanis Club so I have memories as a child going to Pancake Day and assisting with Pancake Day and cleaning tables," she said. "So it's kind of been a full circle moment for me joining Kiwanis and then with the specific focus on Pancake Day." Members are expecting to dish up between 4,000 and 6,000 pancakes throughout the day which runs from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. with both dine-in and carryout options. A traditional menu will be served including all-you-can-eat pancakes and sausage with a beverage. On average, about 3,000 people will flow through the Findlay High School cafeteria that day. It takes a lot of volunteers to put the event together, said Abbott. Jobs include cooking pancakes and sausage, cleaning tables, taking tickets and working the serving lines. "Celebrity flippers" are invited to help cook pancakes. "Lots of griddles in the back, lots of griddles in the front," she said. "I know people oftentimes see the celebrity flippers in the front. That's where, if you want more than the original allotment of pancakes, you go out front. But we have six griddles working in the back just as hard." Members often find one job they like and sign up for it every year. "If I am a greeter, then they greet you every year. If they are a sausage cooker, then they do that year after year as well," she said. "It's a well-oiled machine, and I'm just thankful to be able to assist and keep that going for our kids." In fact, the whole club helps out by selling tickets and getting sponsors, Abbott said. But a smaller committee of about eight members lead the different subcommittees. "There's a sponsorship chair. There's a ticket chair and a Kids Zone chair that works with us to make sure everything is flowing," Abbott said. 4-H clubs volunteer to help along with members connected to Kiwanis like Key Club and Aktion Club. Presale tickets are currently $8 for adults and $7 for senior citizens ages 62 and older and children 12 and under, available from any Kiwanian or at AAA, 1550 Tiffin Ave.; and Heavenly Pizza, 1404 N. Main St. On the day of the event, tickets will be $1 more — $9 for adults and $8 for seniors and children. The inaugural "Pancake Festival" was held in October 1958 at the former Elks lodge on South Main Street. 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. Abbott said a Kids zone is located in the great hall. There will also be a 50/50 raffle and appearances by several mascots like Tommy Trojan and some Disney characters. Pancake Day, which raises around $20,000 each year, is one of the club's major fundraisers. Abbott said it's only rivaled by purse bingo, a new edition that's offered in July and also raises a lot of funds for the club. Proceeds support the Kiwanis Club whose mission is to benefit children through club projects like the Kiwanis Closets, EnChroma glasses for colorblind children, Santa's House, and through the support of community projects and organizations including Findlay First Edition, a Night to Shine, Boy Scouts, YMCA, the Dolly Parton Imagination Library and construction of Brucklacher Memorial Park. "We know that all of this is made possible by our generous community," said Abbott. Sky High Stack sponsors include Blanchard Valley Veterinary Clinic, Coldwell Banker Flag City, Heavenly Pizza, the Brown Company of Findlay, Whitman Law and Whitson Properties, along with many tall stack, short stack and silver dollar donors. At the end of Pancake Day, members inventory what's left to make sure they're not purchasing more items that aren't needed. "So there is a method to the madness to ensure that we really are maximizing the amount of dollars that we're raising to support the organization," said Abbott.