The “Fly-in Drive-In Pancake Breakfast” will be held on Monday, Sept. 4 at the Kewanee Municipal Airport. Pancakes will be served from 7- 11 am.
The tradition that began years ago continues today and is hosted now by the Kewanee Community Volunteer Fire Department. But to find its start, you’ll have to go back all the way to 1973, according to the history recorded on the Kewanee Hog Days Festival website.
In 1966, the Kewanee airport was dedicated during Hog Days weekend, on Sunday, Sept. 4 to be exact. The next two years in 1967 and 1968, saw what was then called a Sunday breakfast at the airport during the Labor Day/Hog Days weekend. That event was hosted by the Kewanee Optimist Club.
“There’s no record of a Hog Fest weekend event being held there for 1969 through 1972,” but in 1973, the Kewanee Day Care Center needed a revenue-raising idea for its organization.
Since it was being held at the airport, it wouldn’t be promoted as just any pancake breakfast but rather a “fly-in” pancake breakfast where folks could get in their airplane and fly down to the airport for Hog Days fun and a plate of pancakes. Or you could come the old-fashioned way in a car, of course, but the idea was born and took flight.
“The airport was inundated with people and the day car center was off and running with a new annual fundraiser,” the Hog Days website states.
But all good things eventually come to an end, and the day care could no longer do the breakfast and so it was passed on to other organizations. The Kewanee Community Volunteer Fire Department took over the role of hosting the “fly-in” breakfast years ago, and the event hasn’t skipped a beat since 1973.
“Literally hundreds and hundreds of people line up and are served during the four-hour period,” according to the official word from the Hog Days committee.
“So, if you’re in need of a new tradition in your life, jump in the plane and steer toward Kewanee on Labor Day morning, or you can still come the ‘old fashioned’ way too!”
