I was in the middle of feeding the kids waffles (not pancakes, but waffles) when my phone buzzed. It was my husband. Work takes him all around Iowa, and small farm towns, beginning at 5 a.m. daily. I've been treated to bizarre texts such as, 'small farm town is up in arms because the drug store shortened their hours. There's protests happening,' to 'the town fire truck is looking for someone's lost dog.' It always brings a giggle to this city girl. I was not prepared for Tuesday morning's text though. It was a link to an event page and in bold letters (from my husband): THERE'S A PANCAKE DAY FESTIVAL. WE'RE GOING!!
I read through the event page and snorted. It was such a small town Iowa thing and it's totally something we would do. Plus, after speaking with my husband about it and catching on to his bizarre excitement, we couldn't not go. Naturally, we found ourselves piled into our Highlander, dog included, driving through the Iowa countryside to get to Centerville, Iowa bright and early Saturday morning.
First thing to note, this is a big thing for the Iowa town. There were games, vendors, a stage that had bands and performances booked, food trucks, a pancake parade, and more. The entire reason my husband was dying to come was because Pancake Day was trying to set a world record by serving the most pancakes ever. I'm unsure if they hit their goal, but it was recorded that 13,000+ pancakes were served from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Pancake Day. We stayed long enough to take it all in, get pancakes, eat them, let a hundred people pet our dog (and reassure them that, yes he's huge, he really is 100% English lab), and get home in time to get the kids to a sleepover with grandparents.
Matt and minis waited in line for 40 minutes for their pancakes. I mostly walked around the square to keep the dog entertained. At one point I was stopped by a group of teenagers so they could pet Zeus. I then sat and listened to them tell me all about their pets, how old they were, and little snippets of their lives with their pets. It brought a smile to my face that a group of 15 year olds eagerly told me about their lives all because they wanted to pet my dog.
The Pancake Day mascot. I think. It could very well have been a random towns person dressed as a pancake too.
We decided we needed Mexican hot chocolate for the drive home.
It was quite the event and a memorable day for me because, for once, this crazy thing was my husband's idea!
