Charles City Lions Club hosts annual Fly-In Breakfast

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

It was a morning of flights and flapjacks at the Northeast Iowa Regional Airport as the Charles City Lions Club held their Fly-In Pancake Breakfast on Sunday, July 16.

The Lions Club has been hosting the annual fundraising event for as long as any of the current members can remember. It’s a big undertaking for the group, taking everybody working together and months of preparation to organize.

“We start planning this in May,” said Lions Club President Kelvin Keifer.

The club members were at the airport bright and early on Sunday morning, setting up the hanger with their own tables and chairs to get ready for the breakfast crowd.

Breakfast began at 7:30, with the Lions members serving up pancakes made from batter supplied by Dave’s Restaurant, sausage provided by Ionia Locker, and, as a special treat this year, guests could top their pancakes with Tosanak Maple Syrup. Tapped from the maple trees in Tosanak Recreation Area, Floyd County Conservation donated the locally produced syrup to the Lions for their breakfast event.

“It’s pretty unique,” said Keifer. “It’s good syrup and it’s a good chance for people to sample it.”

The Lions flipped more than a thousand flapjacks throughout the morning as after-church crowds surged in and out to enjoy the breakfast and see the planes come in.

With pilots eating for free, roughly 30 planes from around north Iowa and southern Minnesota touched down at the airport, making for a sort of rotating airplane show as guests got a chance to admire the different makes and models parked at the airport.

“We get some unique and vintage planes,” said Keifer.

Adventurous guests even had the opportunity for a flight of their own, with the airport offering a deal on plane rides for a quick bird’s-eye view of the county.

“The Lions Club always attracts a crowd,” said airport manager Bill Kyle.

While hazy morning skies and a competing flight breakfast in Waverly depressed turnout a little bit in comparison to past years, the Lions still kept busy throughout the morning as hundreds came in to enjoy the event.

“We appreciate the community involvement,” said Keifer. “We couldn’t do this without the folks that come out.”

Coming up next for the Lions Club, late summer will keep them busy putting up flags for Labor Day. After that, they’ll start getting ready for their book sale coming up in October.