The 25th annual World’s Largest Pancake Breakfast will be served on Saturday, May 15th from 8AM to 11AM on Main Street in Downtown Springfield. Tables will be placed end to end from Tower Square to Court Square. Volunteers will staff three cooking tents and several beverage stations.
The Amalgamated Transit Union and their associates from the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority will be flipping flapjacks at the tent at Tower Square with tickets being sold by the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department Neighborhood Watch Program. Springfield UNICO, Nuvo Bank & Trust Company, Springfield Exchange Club and some representatives from the City of Springfield will be mid-way down Main Street with spatulas in hand. Outside the MassMutual Center, there will be an army of U. S. Postal Workers manning the grills.
Pouring H. P. Hood milk and orange juice, and Green Mountain Coffee Roaster Coffee at the beverage stations will be ABC40/FOX6, WMAS & WHLL Radio, Miss Western Mass Scholarship Program, John Boyle O'Reilly Club, CBS3-Springfield, Zonta Club of Springfield, Rock102/Lazer 99.3, KIX 97.9FM, City of Springfield Law Department, Girl Scouts of Central & Western Massachusetts and the Armoury Quadrangle Civic Association.
The World’s Largest Pancake Breakfast is sponsored by the Springfield Business Improvement District (Springfielddowntown.com) with additional support from Performance Food Group, Agri-Mark/Cabot Creamery, Allied Waste, Baystate Health, Carando Classic Italian, Costco, Elegant Affairs, Friendly Restaurants, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, H.P. Hood, Mansfield Paper Company, Massachusetts Army National Guard, Mercy Medical Center, Peter Pan Bus Lines, Western Massachusetts Alcohol Control Center and Williams Distributing.
All menu items and the paper products they are served on are donated as well as the refrigerated trucks on which they are stored. The City of Springfield is also lending their services to the feast celebrating Springfield 374th birthday.
The Honorary Chair for the 2010 event, Colonel Swain, holds a place in Air Force history as having the first air-to-air kill in an A-10 Thunderbolt II, when he downed an Iraqi helicopter during Operation Desert Storm. His aircraft, "chopper popper," is on permanent display at the United States Air Force Academy. Colonel Swain is a command pilot with more than 14,000 flying hours and has commanded a fighter wing, two expeditionary fighter squadrons and one expeditionary group during Operation NORTHERN/SOUTHERN WATCH and Operation ENDURING FREEDOM.
Tickets for the May 15th breakfast are $3. Children 12 and under are $1. Free breakfast tickets are being distributed to area students and free breakfast is also available to active military with a valid identification.
The World’s Largest Pancake Breakfast is presented by the Spirit of Springfield celebrating Springfield’s biggest, best and brightest for the past 20 years. For more information and entertainment schedule and activities, visit spiritofspringfield.org or call 413-733-3800.
WESTOVER’S COLONEL SWAIN TO PRESIDE OVER 25TH WORLD’S LARGEST PANCAKE BREAKFAST
Thursday, May 6, 2010, at 11AM, in Springfield City Hall, Room 220, the Spirit of Springfield was joined by Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno, Spirit of Springfield Directors, supporters and volunteers when Colonel Robert R. Swain, Jr., commander of the Air Force Reserve's 439th Airlift Wing, Air Force Reserve Command, Westover Air Reserve Base, accepted the responsibilities of Honorary Chairman of the World’s Largest Pancake Breakfast. In this role, he is to forecast only blue skies and comfortable temperatures, keep volunteers motivated and morale high. Since taking command at Westover Air Reserve Base in June 2008, he has had a lot of experience with motivation and morale. The “official” jacket will be presented to him by a member of the Springfield Legislative Delegation who served as an Honorary Co- Chairs in 2009.
"It is a great honor to represent the men and women who serve at Westover ARB at the World's Largest Pancake Breakfast in Springfield as the Honorary Chair. This is just one of the many events that make Western Massachusetts a great place to live, work and raise a family. Many thanks from all of us for the support that Springfield continues to provide to the base and its personnel," said Swain.
