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November 4, 2009

Pancake day

Kiwanis merger flips for annual breakfast

Derrick Miller

DUNCAN — When the Duncan and Chisholm Trail Kiwanis clubs merged, the members knew they’d be participating in the activities each group had.

For the Duncan group, the big program is the annual Kiwanis Pancake Day, which takes place every Election Day, regardless if there’s anything to vote on. Tuesday was a non-election Election Day, but volunteers from the newly formed Duncan/Chisholm Trail Kiwanis Club turned up at the Stephens County Fair & Expo Center to cook pancakes, bacon and sausage to serve the community.

The day became an opportunity for members of the merged organization to get better acquainted by working side by side, whether selling tickets or flipping pancakes.

Don Howland, event chairman, said he was happy with how well this year’s festivities went. Howland said everyone pitched in and things were running well.

“Everything’s gone very smoothly,” Howland said. “We’re pleased with how things are going.

“There’s plenty of everything to eat.”

The one-day engagement brought together Pancake Day veterans and newbies.

Tommy Edwards, club vice president, is one of the Kiwanis members who came from the Chisholm Trail chapter. Edwards said many of the Chisholm Trail members have volunteered for the Pancake Day before, but there are quite a few who hadn’t.

“It’s been exciting with the two clubs being together,” Edwards said.

During last year’s program, Charles Gibson wasn’t affiliated with either Kiwanis Club. This year, Gibson got his first taste of pancake flipping.

Gibson became a Kiwanis member just before the merger. He was also the first person destined to get a badge for the merged club, mostly because he didn’t have a name tag at that point.

Just after noon, more than 820 people had stopped by for their pancakes. At that point, the numbers were slightly down from 2008’s event.

Howland and Edwards said this is a result of not having an election. Howland said numbers are usually higher on Election Days with major elections, such as presidential or state elections.

Regardless of being down, Howland said he was still happy with the turnout because it was a successful venture. He also said there was time to catch up during the night.

In addition to Kiwanis members volunteering to work the event, Howland said there was a variety of other volunteers. Some of those included the Duncan High School and Empire High School Key clubs, the Duncan junior police and people from the community.

“We had a lot of people just come in and offer to help,” Howland said.

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