Health & Fitness
Mike King--'Til Noon, Naples Pancake Breakfast
Another idyllic time at the 65th annual Naples Pancake Breakfast.
A pancake breakfast doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it turns out that the annual Naples Improvement Association Pancake Breakfast and Craft Fair is a really good time. This is one of those affairs that makes me feel like I’ve walked into the world of the movie Pollyanna, where small town life is portrayed in such an idyllic manner that you know it’s completely unreal, but are happy to just relish in the nostalgia and fun of the moment. (Unfortunately, my boyhood crush Hayley Mills wasn’t there, but I guess I’m showing my age a bit. Never mind. But she was really, really cute. And remember Mr. Pendergast’s prisms that put a “rainbow on your wall”? And “steak and ice cream?” OK, I’ll stop now. And then she fell and injured her legs. And the townsfolk added the term “The Glad Town” to the train station sign. OK, I’m done. No, really.)
The pancakes themselves are fantastic. The blokes serving them up will always make you a couple of big ones if you ask, or even if you don’t ask. There was fresh coffee and OJ, and sausage too. And milk. I’ve got to have milk with my pancakes. A deal for five bucks. It was a cloudy and cool morning, but the hot coffee helped take the chill off.
So what’s my point here? Just that there are events that crop up around the Belmont Shore and Naples area that make me truly feel a part of the community, unlike any other place I’ve lived. Of course, when I say these events “crop up”, I’m being disingenuous: actual people work hard to set these things in motion. Chairperson of the pancake breakfast is Kim Bergkvist, and there are tons of volunteers that help out, notably Elliot Dixon, who has been the MC and raffle guru for thirty years.
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If you didn’t make it there this year, well, you blew it. Don’t miss out next year, for the 65th annual.
Did any of you go on the fun run? Not me. I like running about as much as I like… well, nothing. A suitable metaphor isn’t even worth searching for. “Fun run” is a huge oxymoron in my book. But that’s just me.