Pancake Festivities Kick-Off Saturday

Pancake Day festivities will get under way Saturday morning with pancake flipping, eating, and cooking contests at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 323 N. Kansas Avenue.

The eating and flipping contest winners will receive cash prizes and there is no entry fee. Registration for the eating and flipping contests will be from 8-9:30 a.m. Saturday. The flipping and eating contests will begin at 10 a.m. The winner in the flipping contest is the person who can flip a flapjack the most times in a three-minute period. (Division I flips for a shorter time.) This contest is open to all ages, with contestants flipping in three separate age divisions (I: 7 years and under; II: 8-13 years; and III: 14 years and older).
The pancake eating contest, set to begin immediately after the flipping contest is over, requires entrants to compete to see who can completely consume a set number of pancakes in the shortest amount of time.
The eating contest features the same three age divisions as the flipping contest.
The flapjacks will be the same size for everyone, about five inches in diameter. Division I contestants will be required to eat one pancake, division II pancake lovers will consume three flapjacks each, and those aged 14 and older will be hurrying to down five pancakes each. There is no entry fee for either contest.
The annual Pancake Day cooking and recipe contest, set for 11:30 a.m. Saturday, is open to anyone age 12 or older living within a 70-mile radius of Liberal.
Those interested in entering may pick up entry forms at the Liberal Convention and Tourism Bureau, One Yellow Brick Road. Contestants will be given a complete copy of the rules when they pick up an entry form. Entry forms and rules may also be downloaded at www.pancakeday.net < http://www.pancakeday.net > .
Completed entry forms must be returned to the Liberal Convention and Tourism Bureau by 5 p. m., Thursday. Entrants will prepare their dishes and bring them to the Knights of Columbus Hall Saturday morning. More than $400 will be awarded in prizes to the top three winners in the cooking contest.
The public is invited to attend and to sample the dishes after winners are announced.