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Pancake breakfast returns to downtown

(left to right) Paul Picknelly and Lt. Gov. Tim Murphy congratulate this year's Pancake Breakfast Honorary Chair Mayor Domenic Sarno at last week's press conference. Reminder Publications photo by G. Michael Dobbs
By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor



SPRINGFIELD When Mayor Domenic Sarno put on the jacket signifying his role as the honorary chair of the 2008 World's Largest Pancake breakfast last week, he quipped, "This is better than winning the Master's."

And although the blue and white windbreaker may not be as well known as the green blazer, the event it represents remains very important to the city of Springfield. This year, the pancake breakfast returns to Main Street on May 17 from 8 to 11 a.m.

"You can't put a price tag on morale, feeling good about your city, the downtown, your neighborhood, "Sarno said.

The breakfast has been conducted for the past two years at Eastfield Mall, and was brought back to downtown. The chairman of the event, Peter Lappin, credited Jeffrey Keck, the executive director of the Business Improvement District, for making the return to downtown possible.

"There's nothing more unique than sitting outside eating pancakes and looking at skyscrapers," Keck said.

Priced at $3 for adults and $1 for children, the breakfast will feature pancakes from the International House of Pancakes, Carando Classic Italian bacon, H.P. Hood milk, cream and orange juice and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters coffee. About 60,000 complimentary tickets will be available to area school systems.

Volunteers to prepare and serve the meal will include people from the Unities States Postal Workers, the Zonta Club, the city's Code Enforcement and Building Division, the city's Health & Human Services Department, WMAS, abc40, CBS-3, Girls Scouts of the Pioneer Valley, the John Boyle O'Reilly Club, the Springfield Rotary and UNICO Club, among others.

Judith Matt, president of the Spirit of Springfield the organization which stages the event, showed the aprons to be worn by the volunteers with a new slogan for the city: "Think Springfield."

"You're going to see a new Springfield," Sarno said. "You're going to see a new downtown as it grows again."

For more information on the Pancake Breakfast, call 733-3800 or log onto www.spiritofspringfield.org.