C.C. Lionelle, 3, Salida, holds her cup of orange juice Monday at the pancake breakfast at the Salida Masonic Lodge. C.C. said she liked the food she ate but was mostly excited for the pancakes
After a week of rain, Masonic Lodge Secretary Bob McCormick said he didn’t know if Mother Nature would allow for the annual Fourth of July Pancake Breakfast.
But clear skies Monday at the Salida Masonic Lodge allowed the breakfast to take place, and it raised $1,343 for the lodge’s projects.
The breakfast provided meals for 208 adults and 24 children, which was a slight dip from last year’s numbers.
“That kind of surprised me,” McCormick said. “We figured with the Fourth being on Monday, we might pass up last year’s numbers.”
The breakfast in 2015 served 251 adults and 24 kids.
Though numbers were down from last year, McCormick said everything went well.
“Everybody enjoyed it,” McCormick said. “It’s a good community event and it gives exposure to the Masonic Lodge.”
Carl Hasselbrink, a Salida Elks Lodge No. 808 officer, who made pancakes during the breakfast, gave the Masons a hand and said he enjoyed being able to do the breakfast.
“It’s great seeing all the different people who come by,” Hasselbrink said. “Being able to help out with this and get people breakfast is always a fun time.”
For the breakfast, cooks used two large cases of link sausages, 42 dozen eggs, 340 biscuits, 45 quarts of orange juice, 40 pounds of pancake mix – which McCormick said made about 560 pancakes – and 7.5 pounds of gravy.