https://capcity.news/latest-news/2026/07/24/behind-the-griddle-how-the-final-free-pancake-breakfast-sent-thousands-of-flapjacks-flying/

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — With pancakes made en masse in a cement mixer, chuckwagons chucking flapjacks out the window to waiting catchers, and a line thousands strong of hungry visitors, it is clear that the annual Cheyenne Frontier Days pancake breakfast is not losing popularity anytime soon.

Hosted by the Kiwanis Club with help from Cheyenne’s Scouting America and Girl Scout members, the breakfast not only provides the community with free food, but also showcases their skill in feeding large crowds in practice for times of need.

Since the early 1960s, the pancake breakfast was intended be used as an emergency service, feeding thousands of people in times of crisis. As CFD became a bigger and bigger event, though, CFD began paying for the free breakfast as a form of community spirit.

According to CFD, the event uses 5,000 pounds of pancake mix, 9,200 cartons of milk, 520 gallons of coffee, 630 pounds of butter and 475 gallons of syrup to serve visitors from all 50 states as well as numerous foreign countries.

In order to make so many pancakes, ingredients are added to a cement mixer that turns the powdered mix into pancake batter. Although it’s a relatively smooth process, on windy Wyoming mornings the mix could get caught in the breeze and rain down like snow.

What do pancakes & a cement mixer have in common?