Clilff Ayers

In past years, it hasn’t always got the publicity it deserved. So this year Cliff Ayers, president of the Lehigh Acres Shrine Club, is putting out the word that the organization is holding its annual Pancake Breakfast on the morning of the Spring Festival Parade this coming Saturday.

“We start serving at 7 a.m. and continue all the way up to the time the parade begins on Homestead Rd. at 11 a.m. We’re inviting folks to come by the Masonic Temple at 1110 Ashlar Ave., just behind the Burger King and eat all they want and that includes coffee, tea and orange juice,” Ayers said. “And the price is only $4.”

“We’ve even got syrup without sugar for those who are watching their diets,” he said.

The largest crowd ever, Ayers said, was in 1996 when 1,400 pancake eaters showed up. Lack of promotion has seen the crowds dwindle over the years.

“So this year, we’re really pushing it,” he said. “We want to revive our pancake breakfast each year.”

“We’ll have the clowns there for everyone and especially the kids and we will have the visiting Shriners who participate in the parade every year. It will be a lot of fun,” Ayers said.

The cost is $4 for all the pancakes you can eat.

“We want everyone to be full so they can enjoy the parade,” he laughed.

Today there are only 24 members of the Shriner’s Club and Ayers and others in the organization want to invite prospective members to come and join the organization. At the pancake breakfast, just ask for Ayers or Bill Horatio, the worshipful master of the Shriners #344 F.A. & A.M.

“We’ll give those interested all the details. Belonging to the organization is a lot of fun and enjoyment,” he said.

Proceeds from the pancake breakfast go to support club activities and to the Masonic Temple, whose members are helping with the breakfast.

Ayes said in addition to the pancakes, they will be serving sausages made by a “German Sausateliost.”

“That’s the way you spell it, I think,” he laughed. We’re getting the sausages, which are really superior in taste to regular sausages, from George Hoerndler who used to own a meat deli in Lehigh.

“He now owns the Pepper Deli in Naples. He had to go to college, Ayers said, to become certified to be a sausateliost. His specialist is sausage and meats.

“Tell the folks to come early and enjoy themselves here and when the parade begins, they can take a short walk over to Homestead Rd.,” he said.

The parade begins at Beth Stacey Blvd. and ends at Arthur Avenue traveling south on Homestead Rd. The judges stand will be in front of the SunTrust Bank where Vicki Culver and Danny Stephenson will emcee the parade by naming each entry and throwing out their comments for the crowds.