Lions scale back pancake breakfast, go bigger with flag-raising

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

There won’t be any plane rides at the Charles City Lions Club’s annual breakfast fundraiser this year, but the service club is hoping to serve up some pancakes and sausage anyway.

The breakfast, normally held at the Northeast Iowa Airport around the July 4th holiday, will instead be going with a drive-thru approach this year, at Central Park on Sept. 13 from 9 a.m. to noon.

“Getting that many people together in one spot, the club just decided it wasn’t a great idea,” said Lions member DeLaine Freeseman. “We thought it was best to go along with what the government and public health experts were recommending, which was to not promote large gatherings.”

The annual breakfast has been held at the airport for more than 20 years, and usually included plane rides and other fun attractions. Freeseman said that with the COVID-19 precautions, the club put it on the shelf this year.

“We still wanted to do something, and a couple of our members came up with this drive-thru idea,” Freeseman said. “We decided to try it and see how it goes, and try to have a little fun with it.”

Freeseman said the focus will be on the food — pancakes and sausage brought directly to your car, along with butter and syrup, for $5. He said customers should enter from the south on Jackson Street, and exit on North Main. Blunt Street will be closed off and signs will provide directions.

Freeseman said the pancake breakfast is one of the Lions Clubs biggest fundraisers, along with its annual book sale, which will be held in October. The money raised goes back to the Lions Club for Charles City community philanthropy.

“We’re not expecting to make as much money as we have in the past,” he said. “It’s more or less to do something positive as a club and get people out and about in a safe manner.”

Among many other things, the club subsidizes hearing aids and eyeglasses for residents and children in the community, conducts free vision tests on preschoolers, and recycles about 800 eyeglasses a year which are sent abroad through Lions Club International.

“We really appreciate anyone who wants to come around that morning and pick up a meal and check us out,” Freeseman said.

While the pancakes have been scaled back this year, the club’s Flags Over Charles City program is growing rapidly.

The Flags Over Charles City program is a subscription flag service. The Lions will set up and remove a 3-by-5 foot American flag on a 10-foot steel pole, with an 18-inch flag holder buried near the sidewalk at surface level. The flags are displayed on Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, Labor Day and Veterans Day.

The Lions Club is currently holding a September special. A customer can pay $30 in advance in September, which will cover a flag on Veterans Day this November and flags for all the holidays next year.

“It’s really catching on,” said Lions member Russ Schwarz. “It’s getting a lot of guys in Lions involved, it’s a great thing for everybody to do.”

Lions members put a total 391 flags up for Labor Day Weekend on Thursday, and will take the flags down next Tuesday. Last year was 125, and the Lions have sold subscriptions for more than 100 flags since July 4 this year.

The Lions hope to add 50 to 100 more flags in September, and Schwarz thinks that the club can handle that many.

Anyone interested in adding a flag to their yard for the duration of a future holiday is encouraged to fill out an online form at charlescitylionsclub.org. Flags can also be displayed in remembrance of certain individuals.