To properly fully understand the meaning of the next paragraph, you’ll need to read using your best "Homer Simpson" voice in your head.

"Hmmm! Pancakes!"

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the time is nearly upon us. This coming Saturday is the Ironton Rotary Club’s annual Pancake

Day.

Between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. the AEP building, formerly Ohio Power, on Third Street just off downtown Ironton, will be the place to be.

And, while the uneducated may think the special lure is all about the pancakes, sausage and coffee that will be applied liberally, the real charm to the club’s Pancake Day is the people.

"Pancake Day is more than just breakfast," Ironton Rotary President Mike Wirzfeld said. "It’s about community and it’s about tradition."

When Mike first said that I simply thought he was waxing a little poetically. But then I began thinking back to the last two years of my experience with the breakfast.

The first year, as a newbie both to the area and to the club, I was a little lost. I simply followed directions and tried to stay out of the club curmudgeon, I mean sergeant at arms, Ray "Doc" Payne’s way.

It was fun and I even spotted a few folks who I’d met in my first few months in town.

Then, last year, as I worked during Pancake Day, I saw lots of folks I knew. And, more important, I saw lots of folks who knew one another, but obviously hadn’t seen each other in a while.

Pancake Day reminded me a little bit of a community reunion. Lots of folks hugging, then backing away to size their old friends and neighbors up, then pulling them closer for another hug.

"I haven’t seen you in ages," I remember one woman saying.

"Hey, Bob!" a man said, with a big grin on his face. "What do you know good?"

Last year, the club ran into a glitch or two. And, in the grand scheme of things, the glitches were good, because having lots more people than we anticipated caused them.

The result was that for short periods of time, we couldn’t dish out enough pancakes fast enough.

Well, suffice to say that club members have learned a valuable lesson and have implemented plans to avoid having those issues this year and going forward, including arranging to have a third griddle for the event.

That means Ray "Doc" wearing his trademark "The heat is on" apron and chef’s hat and co-cooker Darwin Haynes can operate more efficiently than ever.

If you aren’t familiar with the pancake breakfast, come out on Saturday morning and join in a long-standing Ironton tradition.

Tickets are $3.50 and can be purchased from any Rotary member or at the door. The funds raised at the event will go to fund a number of area projects and a few Rotary International projects, including the ongoing fight to eradicate polio from the planet.

Locally, each year the club donates thousands of dollars to help organizations ranging from Boy Scouts to the City Mission and from the United Way to the Ironton Volunteer Day.

So in addition to having some good pancakes, some great company (including seeing Ray "Doc" in full chef regalia) your participation is also a great way to help others in our community. And even Homer Simpson couldn’t argue with that logic.

Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Ironton Tribune. He can be reached at (740) 532-1445, ext. 12 or by e-mail to kevin.cooper@irontontribune.com.