MINNEAPOLIS AND ST. PAUL are getting lots of media attention these days as host cities of Super Bowl LII and related events. That’s to be expected. I’m grateful for that exposure, as long as Minnesotans aren’t portrayed as characters right off the set of Fargo. (Ahem, Minneapolis-based Surly Brewing.) Sure we draw out the vowel “o,” but we don’t talk with exaggerated accents. Not even in Greater Minnesota.
I digress.
I pulled this breakfast promo from the Faribault Lions club Facebook page.
Super Bowl LII in Minnesota reaches beyond the Twin Cities metro. There’s Browerville in central Minnesota, home to extended family of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. And then there’s Faribault, about an hour south of U.S. Bank Stadium in downtown Minneapolis and home to a 52-year Super Bowl tradition—the annual Lions Club Super Sunday Pancake & Sausage Feed. Yes, you read that right. Fifty-two years.
The featured foods, pancakes and sausage. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo 2015.
Sunday from 7:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., the Lions will serve this all-you-can-eat Super Bowl Day breakfast to hundreds at the local Eagles Club in my community. I’ve attended once or twice. I’m not a fan of pancakes. But I am a fan of this Lions Club endeavor to raise monies for local causes such as the Basic Blessings Backpack Program, scholarships, dictionaries for local third graders and more.
Posted in the dining area at the 2015 breakfast. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo 2015.
With a club motto of “We Serve,” the Lions are also collecting used prescription eyeglasses and hearing aids to redistribute to those in need. And, for the first time, they are offering a free vision screening to children ages six months to six years through Lions Kidsight USA, a community eye screening endorsed by Lions Club International. The focus on vision and hearing is especially fitting for Faribault, home to the Minnesota State Academies for the Deaf and for the Blind.
Making pancakes at the 2015 breakfast. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo 2015.
Serving up pancakes and sausage. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo 2015.
Lions Club member Otto serves sausages. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo 2015.
I love how Faribault Lions members and others, year after year after year, for 52 consecutive years, have sold tickets, flipped pancakes, fried sausages and more on Super Bowl Sunday. That’s dedication. That’s commitment. They showcase the best of Minnesota as a place of kind, caring and compassionate people, from rural to metro.
© Copyright 2018 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
That plate of pancakes and sausages had me drooling. Time to trundle out to the kitchen for my bowl of oatmeal I guess. There are so many great organizations and Lions Club is definitely one of them that works hard to help others. Here’s hoping they have an amazing turn out this year for their event.
Thank you, Beth Ann, for your enthusiastic endorsement of the Lions. They do so much good.
Note: As I type, I’m eating my morning bowl of oatmeal, today with blueberries.
Our local Lions group is awesome, too, and the pancake events they organize are always well attended AND yummy!! Gone are the days when our little town gathers to visit/catch-up at the (used to be) frequent auctions, barn dances and coffee cafes (after stopping by the creamery to dump their milk cans). These types of group events seem to have replaced such touch-points and are so needed in a day and age when life appears to speed by at warp speed and even the smallest of neighborhoods have lost some of the personal interaction of bygone days. (I do love pancakes with lots of butter and REAL maple syrup!!! LOL!!!!!).
I love this comment, Doreen, because you highlight all the reasons these community breakfasts are important. Thank you.
If you checked my previous post, you will see that real maple syrup was available to diners. 🙂
I will have to get caught up on your wonderful jottings! Hugs…………….
I love the Lions Club. My daughter received reduced housing costs her first year of college thanks to a scholarship awarded by them. She is so grateful for the opportunity and still keeps in touch with a couple of the gentleman who interviewed her even though she lives states away. It’s a wonderful organization.
What a wonderful gift for a college student. And to think she still keeps in touch with some of the gentlemen shows her gratitude.
My dad is a Lion and he loved helping out with the pancake breakfasts – have fond memories of attending and participating in the eating. My vowels tip people off that I am not from here – ha! But I do not care for the reference to the movie Fargo – such a misnomer for what Minnesotans are truly like – get with us face-to-face and you will find out. Happy Weekend – Happy Super Bowl – Enjoy 🙂
Once a Minnesooooootan, always a Minnesoooooootan. I’m with you on “get to know us; we are NOT fARGO.”
Kudos to your dad for his volunteerism and to you for supporting him and the Lions.
I am lucky that I work closely with another Minnesotan at work because we get each other, especially our humor, which seems odd to everyone else – ha! We have made connections with other Minnesotans down here through the community, American Legion and the VFW. Roots and wings 🙂
I’m glad your many moves have not changed you, that you’re still a Minnesotan at heart.
Sounds like a great tradition. That’s a lot of pancakes over the years.
The breakfast is part of Faribault, part of our story, part of our tradition. I love events like this which bring the community together, raise monies for local causes and help people.
I love events like this! It’s not so much about great dining, but the connection with community and raising a little money for great causes. Fifty-two years is outstanding!!!
And yesterday I talked to lots of people I know in that sense of community you reference.
You Minnesotans sure know how to add food to a good cause.
Kudos to the Faribault Lions.