THE HAPPY GANG FLIPS

It’s National Pancake Week

National Pancake Week is an
annual recognition of the week
surrounding Shrove Tuesday,
which this year was March 3.
Shrove Tuesday is the day before
Ash Wednesday on which, in the
Christian religion, confession is
made in preparation for Lent.

This occasion prompted me to
contemplate the importance of
pancakes in Terrace. Of course,
the first thing that came to mind
was the Happy Gang Centre's
monthly Pancake Breakfast.

On the first Saturday of each
month, from 8 - 11 a.m., seven or
eight dedicated members of the
Happy Gang Centre prepare and
serve a delicious pancake
breakfast to residents and visitors
alike —- pancakes, eggs and bacon
or sausages and all for the very
low price of $3.50 for adults and
only $2 for children.

The Happy Gang Centre
recently celebrated their 10th
anniversary and _ with that,
possibly the 10th anniversary of
the pancake breakfasts. They
were initiated by Lou Gair, and
Fred Berghauser has been taking
the breakfast orders for as long as
he can remember, possibly as far
back as 1983, The pancake
breakfasts were originated by the
men, but now everyone pitches in.
The men still do the bulk of the
cooking, Shifts of four women per
weekday handle the soup and
sandwich lunches (at $2.50 per
meal, it’s the best deal in town),
and Fish and Chip dinners are

doctoring and flipping.

held the second Friday of every
month, both open to the general
public.

Alf deFrane is known at the
Centre as the "Main-tain-ance
Man" and "The Chef". He says
he’s really "chief cook and bottle
washer", at least for the pancake
breakfasts. With or without his
chef’s hat, for the past three

52 Terrace Review — March 6, 1992

years, Alf has been mixing and
flipping pancakes for the pancake
breakfasts. Alf ‘doctors’ Aunt
Jemima pancake mixes ’'til they're
his own special recipe.

He explains, "I’ve been training
different fellows to do it (make
the mix and flip the pancakes), so
that all the crews can provide the
same quality product." Alf has