Kiwanis Club of Omaha Westside

HUNTINGTON -- Pancakes are getting religion, as it were. Prevented for the first time in 15 years from having its annual Pancake Festival at the soon-to-be demolished Veterans Memorial Field House, the Kiwanis Club of East Huntington will conduct its 53rd annual Pancake Festival at New Baptist Church, 610 28th St., from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, March 17. "We had an excellent relationship with Don Ewanus, the Field House director, and his workers, but sometimes it's necessary to move on," says Spencer Moore, club secretary. Marshall University soon will purchase the Field House property and remove the building to make room for a soccer stadium complex. That required the Kiwanians to look for another home for the festival. "The Big Sandy Superstore Arena was too expensive," Moore says. "St. Mary's School of Nursing offered us a large meeting room, but we were afraid someone might spill some syrup on the carpet and it would be too hard to clean up. Then we checked out New Baptist Church, and it seemed more suitable for our purposes." Not that the move was without difficulty. "Four of us -- three electricians and myself -- had to install a large transformer at the church to power our grills," Moore says. "It took us three days, but we got it done." The church also has ample off-street parking and the nursing school has agreed to open its gates on 28th and 29th streets to provide even more parking spaces. The Kiwanians, several of whom have been involved in the festival for decades, seem overwhelmed by its continual success as they make plans for this year's event. "We expect to serve 12,000 pancakes to 4,000 people this year," Moore says. President John Kyle says several other groups and friends lend a hand each year to the East Huntington club - including Boy Scout Troop 63, which meets at Dillon Chapel United Methodist Church in Melissa; the Downtown Huntington Kiwanis Club; the Key Clubs at Huntington, Cabell Midland and St. Joseph Central high schools; and the Junior ROTC programs at Huntington and Cabell Midland. "We will have 95 people helping this year," Kyle says. Organizers say that in many ways, the annual event seems like a family reunion. "Many people come every year," Moore says. "Some of them say they've never missed one since they started coming." Tickets -- which provide a meal of pancakes, link sausage, and coffee, milk, soda or water -- are $5 per person in advance and $6 at the door. Advance tickets will be available as of March 1 at Chandler's Kitchens, Moore's Hardware, Goldie's Market, Muffler Brothers, Tic Toc Tire, Service Glass, Spurlock's Flowers, and from any East Huntington Kiwanis Club member. "Go" orders will be available. "It will be the same great food and the same great service and the same low price," says Festival Chairman Richard Brunton. "Just at a new location." For more information, send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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