Back in 1973, The
Kewanee Day Care Center, needed a revenue-raising idea for its
organization. Kewanee had just finished work on the new Municipal Airport outside of town and the idea was to do a
pancake breakfast. And since it was being held at the airport, it
wouldn't be promoted as just any pancake breakfast but rather
a "fly-in" pancake breakfast! Get in your airplane and come
on down to the airport for Hog Days and have breakfast. And, of
course, if you wanted to come out to the airport the old fashioned
way, by car, that would be okay too!
Well, it worked. The airport
was inundated with people and the day care center was off and
running with a new annual fund-raiser.
Eventually the day care folk could no longer do the breakfast and
it was passed on to other organizations. Currently the Kewanee
Community Volunteer Fire Department hosts what's now called the
"Fly-in Drive-in Pancake Breakfast." But here's the
interesting part. If you check out the video below, you'll see
that no matter what year it is, people keep coming back wanting their Labor Day pancakes from the
airport! Literally, hundreds and hundreds of people line up
and are served during a 4 hour period (usually 7 to 11 AM) and like
the Swallows to Capistrano they just return every year and
stand in line through sun or clouds or rain just because it's Labor
Day morning and by gosh we ALWAYS have pancakes on
Labor Day morning at the airport. Period. Talk about
loyalty!
While your waiting for your food, there's usually something to
check out (planes on display) or in recent years, helicopter rides
have been available for a nominal fee.
So if you're in need of a new tradition in your life, jump in the
plane and steer toward Kewanee on Labor Day morning. Or you
can still come the "old fashioned" way too! |