Kick off the holidays Kiwanis style

Kiwanis club Pancake Breakfast and Music Fest helps fund variety of community projects

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MIKAYLA FINNERTY

The 63rd annual Pancake Breakfast and Music Fest is the perfect way to support your community while enjoying a meal.

Mikayla Finnerty, Editor-in-chief

The Kiwanis Club of Pullman will host its 63rd annual Pancake Breakfast and Music Fest on Dec.4 at the Gladish Community and Cultural Center.

The festival to kick off the season’s festivities will run from 8-11 a.m., and live musical performances from local artists will start at 9 a.m. All performances will be streamed via YouTube and Facebook. 

Event Coordinator Chair Shannon Focht said refreshments and goodies will be for sale, in addition to the annual silent auction hosted online. For the first time ever, photos with Santa will also be available upon donation. 

Larry Clark, Kiwanis Club of Pullman board member, said all proceeds from this weekend’s event will go toward the Pullman Child Welfare Food Bank, the Community Action Center Food Bank, as well as other Kiwanis and community projects.

“We have a lot of items posted, and we are still getting some in, things like a stay at a Holiday Inn Express, to car detailing, to a basket of kitchen items,” Clark said. 

To participate in the silent auction, you can register online on the website page. You can also view the catalog here. Participants will not be able to bid until 8 a.m. the day of the event. 

“It was really different last year,” Clark said. “We have sort of a tradition of having people come to the middle school, and then we make pancakes and a big breakfast … we wanted to have something, but obviously COVID was preventing us from having a live event, so we did an online music fest.” 

One of the local artists thatwill play at the event is jazz and swing band The Snake River Six, as well as surprise guest appearances. 

“A lot of our efforts from the pancake breakfast from the past few years have been around food insecurity and making sure kids have enough food at home and also their families,” Clark said. 

Clark said the Kiwanis’ main focus is on local children and their families, and many of the programs they approve go along with their goal of helping local children.

Focht said that many consider this event the kick off to the holiday season and often look forward to it each year.

“We have a lot of community support for this event, from people in business and people in Pullman who know the Kiwanis pancake breakfast, so this is a chance for them to show their support,” Clark said.