If you think that AirVenture is too big and too commercial, and if you pine for the grassroots spirit of the local EAA chapter pancake breakfast, you are in luck. Every morning of the show, a selected EAA chapter conducts a pancake breakfast, complete with scrambled eggs and sausage, right in Camp Scholler. The EAA Chapter Office sets up that little slice of heaven, allowing campers to wake up to a wonderful hot breakfast and giving the hosting chapter the chance to make a little income.
This morning, EAA Chapter 690, from Lawrenceville, Georgia (a suburb of Atlanta) fielded a team of 12 volunteers to cook and serve over 450 campers. Volunteer pancake chefs were able to churn out such a volume with the innovative pancake turntable, a turning circular grill over five feet in diameter. One cook would plop pancake batter in radials on the grill and, by the time the grill rotated once, it was time to turn the pancakes. It may or may not be more efficient, but it sure is entertaining.
The best part of the pancake breakfast program is that it allows camping families to dine together in a great setting at a reasonable price. They call that the spirit of EAA.
