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77 Years of Pancakes & Still Flipping

The smell of pancakes will fill the air at the Arena Building this Wednesday for the 77th Annual Lion’s Club Pancake Day – the longest running Pancake Day in the U.S.!

I love pancake day, and I go every year with my sisters.  I don’t know if it’s the smoky pancake haze that hangs overhead, the Cape Central High School Jazz Band providing musical entertainment or the rows and rows of Lion’s flipping hundreds of pancakes…Pancake Day is one of my favorite community events and I haven’t missed it in the last 5 years.

5+ years is nothing for the Lion’s Club.  They’ve been at this pancake business in Cape Girardeau since 1939, and this year is the 77th Annual event.  That’s 77 years of preventing blindness, restoring eyesight and improving eye care and health around the world, as the Lion’s Club is a leader in supporting eye health.  Pancake Day in Cape Girardeau prevailed through World War II (though eating contests were discontinued due to rationing) and has kept on through the decades – pancakes with “a side of history and a heap of community”.

Jay Copp wrote in the April 2011 edition of Lion that “In the early 60’s Cape Girardeau Lions were forced to limit the number of pancakes per person after college students ate as many as 30.  Cape Girardeau has had a history of big eaters.  In 1941, Homer Sheppard, a college student, packed away 35 flapjacks and then told astonished Lions he intended to be a dietician.”

12 hours of pancakes kicks off at 7 a.m. and continues until 7 p.m. this Wednesday, March 11.  $5 buys you a plate of 3 enormous pancakes and a drink; sausage and orange juice are another dollar.  Community spirit and small town charm is also included.

I’ve been making homemade blueberry syrup and bringing it along to Pancake Day for the last couple of years; it makes you quite popular with the other folks at your table and is a great conversation starter.  Here’s the recipe in case you’d like to bring it along to accompany your pancakes – though be warned:  it will turn your teeth blue!

Blueberry Syrup
5 cups blueberries; frozen berries work just fine
3 cups water
1 cup white sugar
1 lemon

-Peel 3-4 strips from lemon.  Juice lemon and set aside both the peel and the juice.
-Place blueberries and 1 cup water in medium sized pot.  Crush blueberries with a potato masher or spoon.
-Heat over medium-high heat, bringing berries and water to a boil.  Lower temp to medium-low and let simmer for 15 minutes.
-Remove pan from heat and ladle berries into a sieve set over a bowl.  Press the berry solid to extract as much juice as possible.  Discard solids.
-Wash out pot and add remaining 2 cups of water, lemon peel and sugar.  Bring to boil and boil rapidly for about 15 minutes, or until mixture thickens.
-Add blueberry juice and 2 tablespoons lemon juice.  Boil 1-2 minutes.  Remove from heat and cool, removing lemon peels.
-Perfect over yogurt, ice cream and pancakes!

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