Bring your own bib

World’s Largest Pancake Breakfast returns Saturday

By K eith O ’C onnor Special to The Republican

TAKE 3,450 POUNDS of buttermilk flour, 800 pounds of eggs, 350 pounds of butter and 450 gallons of water, and what do you have?

The answer is the recipe for this year’s World’s Largest Pancake Breakfast and tons of fun planned in downtown Springfield on Saturday.

The annual nosh fest, sponsored by MGM Springfield, will be held from 8 to 11 a.m. along an endless table running along Main Street from State Street to Bridge Street.

Bring your own bib and sit down at the breakfast table for some fluffy, light pancakes served up alongside bacon, milk, orange juice and coffee marking Springfield’s 387th birthday.

The expanded menu continues again this year with samplings from Dunkin’ and cheese from Cabot Creamery Co-operative.

The Place 2 Be will also have its own pancake cups with special treats to top them off.

Admission to the event, beverages and activities are free, but if you want to enjoy a hearty breakfast, the cost is $3 and $1 for children under 12.

This year’s honorary chair is Superintendent Cheryl C. Clapprood of the Springfield Police Department.

“I’m honored to be chosen when there are so many other people to consider.

The World’s Largest Pancake Breakfast is quite an event and the Spirit of Springfield does such a good job organizing it. I’ve attended it for many years, but this time I will be expected to work ... helping to mix the batter on Friday as well as helping to cook the bacon beforehand,” Clapprood said.

“I’m very much looking forward to what will be a very nice and relaxing day for the many people who come downtown for a good breakfast and entertainment. And it better not rain,” she added.

For many years, the World’s Largest Pancake Breakfast has brought communities together in good times and in bad.

“It is an opportunity for people to get out of their homes in the spring after a long winter and be able to enjoy the company of their friends and neighbors and perhaps make new friends as well. Given a report released (recently) from our U.S. surgeon general that this country is experiencing more loneliness than ever before, which was worsened when COVID-19 spread, I believe this year’s breakfast will take on an even greater importance in addressing the crisis,” said Judith A. Matt, president of the Spirit of Springfield.

In addition to MGM Springfield, Monson Savings Bank, and TD Bank, it takes “an army of support from so many organizations” for the World’s Largest Pancake Breakfast to come together for the thousands of people who show up each year for a hearty break- fast, Matt noted.

All of the action begins the day before at Mercy Medical Center where Clapprood will roll up her sleeves and be among the many mixing the pancake batter — donated by Performance Foodservice — and filling 100 5-gallon buckets that will be delivered to the downtown breakfast on Saturday. Then, volunteers arrive as early as 4 a.m. to begin all the preparations and don’t leave until the last piece of trash is picked up around 1 p.m.

The breakfast also would not happen without Baystate Health and Mansfield Paper providing paper products or Cabot Creamery donating 200 pounds of butter and H. P. Hood delivering hundreds of gallons of milk, juice, and cream for the coffee that will be donated and brewed by Sheraton Springfield. Smithfield Packaged Meats contributes 1,000 pounds of bacon that will be cooked by the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department and warmed by MGM Springfield. Costco will donate a gift card to purchase cooking spray, sponges, and other supplies. Quality Beverage and Home Grown Springfield — Sodexo, as well as Ryder, will keep everything cold beforehand in their refrigerator trucks. Elegant Affairs every year donates the use of their downtown facility as the event headquarters. The Springfield Business Improvement District, with an assist from the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department, keeps the area clean. And Springfield Parking Authority will provide free parking for volunteers, while Gleason Johndrow Landscaping will work behind the scenes to assist the Spirit of Springfield with set up and keeping the volunteers stocked with the products they need for the breakfast.

Also, cooking, serving, selling tickets and keeping the tables clean will be hundreds of volunteers from 94.7 WMAS, Armoury Quadrangle Civic Association, Bethel Child Care Services, Baystate Academy Charter School, iHeart Media, Jack and Jill of