KVFD Pancake Breakfast

Each year, the firetrucks in Kalona are all parked outside, tables are set up inside the station, and  visitors donate some dollars to the Fire Department in order to eat tasty pancakes. The trucks were freshly waxed and polished in order to allow 900 squealing children (myself included) to lay their grubby, syrup-coated fingers all over them. Does every fire department do this? They should. It is a wonderful event that the entire community comes out to enjoy together.

It has been years since I've gone to the Kalona Volunteer Fire Department Annual Pancake Breakfast (heretofore referenced as "KVFDAPB" or "Pancaaaaaakes!")



How many years? At least five. See, before this year, I couldn't eat their main course. Although the cheerful firemen serve up scrumptious sausages and eggs with their pancakes, there just wasn't much allure to waiting in line for some Not Pancakes.

But God is great, and pancakes are gooooooooood.

When I arrived at 9am, the line had stretched from the Fire Department over to the Post Office. Iowa is experiencing a heat wave this morning: a balmy 39-degrees! So it appeared that every man, woman, and child emerged from their hibernation just to make me wait longer for pancakes.

I stepped in line, and started my timer.

A scant 21 minutes and 39 seconds later, I was in the front door. What can I say, it takes me a long time to travel a block.

I spoke with the pleasant fireman that was in charge of head-counting and he let me see his chart. By 9:30, they had served over 1,500 people breakfast. Incredible.

 These jolly crewmen were far from stingy with their perfectly golden masterpieces. Several of the firefighters were friends with the older gentleman in front of me and started throwing pancakes at him. He ended up with four on his plate and two on the floor.

It took 26 minutes and 45 seconds from the front door of the Post Office until I was standing inside with a plate loaded with tasty goodness. All that to say the line was moving.

The food was incredible. I have made gluten-free pancakes in the past (from a mix. Who do you think I am, Betty Crocker?) that were light and fluffy, and I have discovered that wheat-filled pancakes are a little more...ponderous. They have girth, substance, and accompany a heavy settling in the stomach. BUT NOT THESE. Seriously, these pancakes were every bit as light and fluffy as my gluten-free counterparts. While we ate, firemen brought additional pancakes, sausage, eggs, and beverages around but I was unable to eat more than the food I started with.

Kalona's newest, shiniest firetruck was out on display. It's not even quite finished yet and has to be returned to the factory tomorrow to be completed. But the factory knows how important annual breakfast fundraisers are, so they let the fire department show it off today.

I like the new fire truck. My pastor took one look at it and said 

"That truck has testosterone." He is correct. It also has a lot of shiny chrome. 

If you're in the Kalona area, go eat some pancakes! They'll keep serving until 1pm. Also, donate some money. I am more than glad to give an hour's wages (and eat tasty foodstuffs) to some dudes that may one day spend hours rescuing me from a fire. Last week, a large tree was blown over in my woods during a particularly bad storm. The tree had the audacity to fall on my power line, which left my neighbors and I in a blackout for 8 hours. Fortunately, the line broke at a spot close to the power line so the live wires were out of reach. Nothing was set on fire, but I know that's a fairly common occurrence when power lines are broken by large dead trees. I'm comforted to know that these kindhearted men will come to my aid if things do get set ablaze, unintentionally or otherwise. :)

P.S. Thank you to The Daily Iowan for sending people to my blog.
If you are one of those visitors, the article they were referring to is located here.