It will be stars, stripes and syrup at Orinda’s 4th of July, with the last coming courtesy of Cub Scout Pack 212. (From left) Cody Clark, Emmett Han, Remy Walsh and Finn Walsh will be part of group that’s bringing the pancake breakfast back after a two-year hiatus.
Fireworks. A parade. Lots of flags. Kids running around screaming for no apparent reason. Potato salad. Hot dogs. The aroma of barbecued ribs rising from the smoke of the outdoor grill.
It’s the 4th of July, of course, and The Orinda Association (OA) will host its annual parade and celebration, but there’s been something missing from the traditional list of activities these past few years: The pancake breakfast.
The line is usually long, but not too long. There are a bunch of volunteers sweating over a grill. Paper plates stacked with pancakes and sausage, both covered with a little too much syrup. Coffee – well, something black and hot. Orange juice. Maybe some fruit just to mitigate the guilt.
But no longer will the pancake breakfast be MIA in Orinda. It’s back after a two-year hiatus, and it will have a new, younger look. In fact, really young, as Cub Scout Pack 212 is taking over from the Lamorinda Sunrise Rotary, which ran the pancake breakfast for almost a decade. (Before that, it was the Orinda RoadRunners.)
That youthful energy won’t be flipping pancakes, but Cub Scouts in uniform will be helping out at the $15 a plate meal – which is also a fundraiser for the Cub Scouts and the Orinda Network for Education.
But what happened to the pancake breakfast these last two years? First off, a community tradition like this requires an enormous amount of behind-the-scenes work. Those pancakes don’t cook themselves, that batter doesn’t mix itself, and those health permits don’t sign themselves.
“There’s quite a bit to it, including getting up at 4:45 AM on the 4th,” said Richard Shearer of the Lamorinda Sunrise Rotary, who took over the event in 2015. “It got passed on to me because I didn’t duck fast enough.”
Which meant that Shearer would rent a cargo van for the griddles, supplies and equipment, and pack it on July 3. He’d arrive in Orinda at 5:30 a.m. to greet the sun and start setting up.
“We’d cook the sausages right away,” he said, and then start mixing the 80 pounds of Krusteaz batter. And start slicing the 90 pounds of bananas in half – grapes are too labor-intensive.
Of course the tables had to be set up, along with tablecloths and chairs. Organizing the breakfast required significant coordination among volunteers, event organizers and community groups, in addition to the work on the morning of the event itself.
Due to this level of effort required, along with some logistical hurdles faced by Rotary and the 4th of July event organizers, the breakfast was paused. Although the breakfast did not take place for the last two years, community interest in bringing it back never disappeared.
Enter Cub Scout Pack 212.
“I thought it would be a fun idea to do a pancake breakfast as a fund-raiser,” said Dan Walsh, the Cub Scout pack leader, and when he mentioned the idea to OA president Alex Drexel, the light went on – or maybe the fireworks went off.
“We got nothing but support,” said Walsh, “and the idea just picked up steam.”
Shearer immediately got on board. “He’s been super helpful,” said Walsh. “He gave us his notes and his checklist, and we thought ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’.”
Shearer also is letting the Cub Scouts use his equipment, and he’ll be there on the 4th to help guide Walsh and his volunteers through their first 4th of July pancake breakfast.
“The Rotary Club, and I, want this to be a success,” said Shearer – and so does everyone who wants to enjoy just one more 4th of July tradition at Orinda’s biggest community celebration.
