BY MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The Host Lions Club in St. Joseph will finally hold its annual Pancake Days event this weekend.
The annual event was originally scheduled for earlier this spring, but was cancelled due to negative COVID trends.
Roger Unruh of the Host Lions Club says they still wanted to do Pancake Days, leading the club to reverse the decision and get the dinner in right before the end of the club year. Unruh adds there were some big factors that played into their decision.
"What went into the decision, we decided that we weren't going to do it if we had to be covered by masks, we weren't going to do it if there wasn't an immunization out there that people could go to," Unruh said. "Now we feel like it's safe from the standpoint that people that feel like they need to wear a mask, they're more then welcome to wear a mask."
Unruh says the reason they love holding the annual event is seeing it bring the community together.
"A lot of people will come in and they'll come in early, or fairly early in the morning, and they'll sit at that table until somebody walks through that they know, and then they invite them to the table and they sit and visit for another half hour," Unruh said. "We love seeing that, because that's what brings the community together."
Temperatures are normally a little cooler during the event. So, with warmer weather, Unruh hopes people will still come out, and he encourages people to come out as early as possible.
"We've got that six burner grill sitting inside that shed, and of course there's ways of pulling air through that shed, but it's still going to be warm," Unruh adds. "So we would like to see a lot of people come out as early as possible, because I think it will be much more comfortable for them, and it will be much more comfortable for us."
The event runs from June 25-27 and will begin at 7 am on Friday and go until 7pm, and will also run Saturday 7am-7pm and Sunday 7am-2pm. All funds raised from the event are funneled back into the community, as well as the Lions service fund.