SALISBURY — The annual Kiwanis Pancake Festival will be held Friday from 5-8 p.m. and Saturday from 7:30-10:30 a.m. in the main gym of the J.F. Hurley Family YMCA. 

Tickets can be purchased in advance from club members or at the door during the festival. Children aged 10 and under in attendance will be given a free ticket at the door. The history of the Kiwanis Pancake Festival is particularly important to Kiwanis this year as the club celebrates its 100th Anniversary. 

The Kiwanis Pancake Festival was started in 1957. It’s a major fundraising event for the Kiwanis Club, with approximately $25,000 raised. That money is used to fund the children’s charity projects of the club. Funds are generated from sponsorships, ticket sales and donations. 

Always held in early March, the Festival was first hosted at City Park Recreation Center. It moved to the Salisbury Civic Center in 1986, and to the J.F. Hurley Y in 2004. The menu has remained the same over the years — all-you-can-eat pancakes, sausage and drinks (coffee, milk, water and Cheerwine products). The price started at $2 a person in early years to only $5 a person today. 

Items supported by the Kiwanis Club include programs at Rowan-Salisbury Schools — Terrific Kids, Bringing Up Grades, K-Kids and Key Club.

Terrific Kids is a recognition program for students in elementary school. Classroom teachers grant “Terrific Kid” status to students each quarter who exemplify good behavior and character. Students receive a certificate, pencils and a bumper sticker for parents to put on their car noting “My Child is a Terrific Kid.”  

Bringing Up Grades is another Kiwanis-sponsored program designed to recognize elementary-aged students for improving their grades. The awards are also presented each quarter by classroom teachers at school assemblies, with students receiving a certificate and small trinkets.

Both programs are sponsored by the Kiwanis Club at Isenberg, Overton and Hanford-Dole Elementary schools.

Isenberg Elementary also has a “K-Kids” Club sponsored by Kiwanis. A service club for fifth-grade students, it instills the value of providing service leadership to the school and community. The club works with a faculty advisor in providing the extra-curricular opportunity for students.

The Salisbury Kiwanis Club also sponsors a Key Club at Carson, East Rowan, North Rowan and Salisbury High schools. Key Club is a service leadership organization for high school students that involves participation from more than 250 students each year. Clubs develop their own service projects and each has a faculty adviser. The faculty advisers are Susan Eldridge at Carson; Carrie Vann at East Rowan; Kymberly Melton at North; and Sallie Pittman at Salisbury. The Key Club has existed at Salisbury High School since 1946. The club at North Rowan was chartered in 1985, with East Rowan following in 2002 and Carson in 2016.

Attendees should expect to see Key Club members at the pancake festival in colored T-shirts representing their individual schools.

In addition to supporting the activities of the Key Clubs, the Salisbury Kiwanis Club offers a $1,000 college scholarship each year to four seniors who are members of the local Key Clubs.

The Kiwanis Club also provides funds for infant car seats needed by families leaving Novant Rowan Health Center; books and events for kids associated with Smart Start Rowan; help for the Three-Wide Foundation’s Christmas Dinner for local “book bag families;” Christmas gifts for children associated with Terrie Hess House; help for the Salvation Army’s bell-ringing campaign; cooking and serving lunch to Special Olympic athletes; support for purchasing E-readers for the ApSeed Elementary Education Program; support for Livingstone College’s Bridge Program; support for the Crosby Scholars Program; sponsorship of a Rowan Little League team; support for the J.F. Hurley Family YMCA’s Invest in Youth Program; support for the J.F. Hurley Family YMCA’s Capital Campaign; support for the Carolinas District Kiwanis Foundation; and support for Kiwanis International Children’s Fund.

Members also staff the concession stand for YMCA Soccer League games, donate and deliver magazines to Novant Rowan Medical Center and usher for the Piedmont Players at the Meroney Theater.

The Kiwanis Club is currently accepting new members, and will have representatives on hand at the festival to talk with interested people about opportunities for service and assisting the children in the community.