Cancel those

dinner plans for Friday night. You'll want to save room for Saturday's

11th annual Peachtree City Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast at McIntosh High

School.

Over 2,300

people enjoyed the all you can eat breakfast of pancakes and sausage last

year and the event seems to grow in popularity each year. In addition,

to the delicious food that has people looking forward to the breakfast

each year, visitors have their choice of beverage including coffee, tea,

milk and orange juice.

"Our first

year we had just over 1,000 people attend," said Peachtree City Kiwanis

Member Butch Hill, who has chaired the event since day one. "It is

always one of the group's biggest fundraisers."

Last year,

the pancake breakfast raised close to $13,000, all of which went back

into the community. Among the projects and organizations the Peachtree

City Kiwanis Club supports are the D.A.R.E. programs in Peachtree City,

scholarships for students at McIntosh and Starr's Mill each year, Fayette

Field of Hope, the All Children's Playground, the Fayette Youth Protection

Homes and countless others.

"Every

fifth grader in Peachtree City participates in the D.A.R.E. program,"

said Hill. "The money we raise goes towards supplies and videotapes

for the program as well as a t-shirt for each student at graduation."

An event of

this size requires the assistance of many people and organizations. Over

100 Kiwanis and Key Club, which is the high school chapter of the Kiwanis

Club, volunteer their time to work the event. Though the doors open to

the public at 7 a.m., volunteers start preparing for the breakfast at

5 a.m. and get first dibs on the pancakes at around 6:30 a.m.

In addition

to the people staffing the event, many local organizations help provide

the ingredients that keep people coming back year after year. The Peachtree

Wyndham Conference Center donates the Aunt Jemima Complete Buttermilk

pancake batter and the sausage is provided by the Thomas Packing Company

in Griffin, Publix donates the syrup and margarine, Partners II Pizza

donates the cutlery, Kwik Kopy helps with the printing and eight banks

from Fayette County help underwrite the event.

Though lots

of people attend the event each year, the staff has the breakfast down

to a science so that people aren't waiting in long lines. In fact, they

have tracked the crowd by the hour in order to better serve the community.

Last year, 9 a.m.-10 a.m. was the breakfast's busiest hour and over 700

people went through the lines. Each person gets two pancakes as they go

through the line and with over half of those people going back for seconds,

the staff is making a lot of pancakes.

"We've

kept adding grills over the years," said Hill. "We own four

of our own, including one that is six feet long and can cook approximately

70 pancakes at a time. We also are able to use one of the grills at McIntosh."

There is more

to the event than just a good breakfast. Each year the Southland Chorus

Barbershop Quartet performs and children can get their face painted, receive

balloons or participate in a pancake eating contest.

"The contest

is not how many pancakes you can eat," Hill explained. "Each

child has the same amount and the winner eat the pancakes in the fastest

time. Of course, each year we do something a little different like tie

their arms behind their back or make them eat the pancakes with chopsticks."

Also attending

the event this year will be the Fayette County Safe Kids Coalition, which

will be conducting child safety seat checks, and J93.3FM, which will be

doing a live remote during the breakfast. members of the Kiwanis Club

will be on J93.3 on Thursday morning cooking pancakes beginning at 6:30

a.m.

The Peachtree

City Kiwanis Breakfast will take place from 7 a.m.-1 p.m. at McIntosh

High School on Saturday, Jan. 25. Admission is $4. For more information,

phone Butch Hill 770-487-3500.

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