Kitty Garcia of Aurora and her son Sammy, 6, knew they would enjoy a pancake breakfast this weekend and found what they were looking for at the Aurora Noon Lions Breakfast with the Bunny event in Aurora.
“We’ve not come to this event before but I have friends and family that have been coming here for years,” Garcia said. “This is going to be a much better Easter than a year ago, and it’s exciting to see how crowded things are here already.”
Saturday morning, the Aurora Noon Lions did their best to celebrate the Easter weekend with the breakfast event at Luigi’s Pizza and Fun Center, 732 Prairie St. in Aurora.
The breakfast itself included all the classic morning fixings from pancakes and sausage to doughnuts, juice and various other drinks along with a new outdoor Easter egg hunt which capped off the event.
Lions Club officials were expecting a crowd of about 400 to show up with attendance being critical for a number of reasons.
“This is our biggest annual fundraiser,” said Aurora resident Arvid Meyer, 71, Aurora Noon Lions Club president. “We didn’t have as many people here last year with COVID – people just came through the line with masks on. We have a lot more people helping out. As far as attendance goes our host, Bill Poss who owns Luigi’s, said he’s been getting calls from people nearly an hour away that said they were interested in coming today. He’s a great partner and is always very generous.”
Poss said he was excited to again host the breakfast and that the Lions group would be doing all the work.
“This is a nice fundraiser and the Lions Club does all the pancake stuff – they cook, they clean, they prepare,” Poss said. “I’m happy to have this here again and have noticed as COVID has lessened, there’s a little extra pep in people’s voices and the kids seem happier. It’s something I can’t put my finger on but people are thrilled to get out.”
Poss said beyond offering the space, his business’ contribution was to give away a free Easter egg pizza kit “for people to take home and cook Saturday night or on Easter day.”
“We give a free kit to everyone who purchases a ticket, so basically if someone buys a $5 breakfast ticket they are getting a $5 pizza kit so they are getting value for admission,” he said. “It’s a good family thing and something that keeps the family doing something together over the weekend.”
Scores of volunteers were on hand including Fatima Lopez, 18, of Aurora, who was working as a server.
“You have to learn how to balance everything out and keep everybody happy,” she said as plastic plates were filled with pancakes and sausage. “I’m here just helping serve the tables. I tried the food before we started the whole thing and it was great.”
Victoria Domanski of Wheaton said she wanted to come to support her friends from the area and called Saturday, “a girls’ day.”
“We’re still waiting to get in line and just drinking our coffee,” she said. “Everything goes for the Lions and it’s fine. We don’t mind helping out the community.”
Her friend Marlene Encarnacion of Plainfield said she learned about the event on Facebook and that she and her daughter Kayleen, 4, were big pancake fans.
“That’s our number one meal for breakfast,” Encarnacion said. “It feels amazing to see this many people out.”
The event also featured a collection box where donations to help the people of Ukraine were being collected. The club has promised to match those funds up to $500.
Megan Luers of Aurora brought her two sons, Tommy, 8, and Ryan, 4, to the event for the first time and sized up the crowd surrounding her in the restaurant.
“It’s definitely busy. I donated some money for the Ukraine effort and am glad to see so many people in the community come out,” she said. “This is a great event for getting the families together. When I told the boys we were going out for pancakes and doughnuts, they were sold.”
Randy Brown of Aurora, who co-owns the Banana Split ice cream shop in town, was manning the ticket desk with other Lions Club members and said the collection for Ukraine was going well.
“I’d say we have about $150 in here and it’s only a little past 9 a.m.,” he said. “I definitely think we’ll reach the $500 goal – no doubt – so we can give $1,000 away.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
