By FINN HARTNETT

Staff writer

It was bright but windy Saturday morning outside Peabody-Burns High School — tough conditions for pancake flipping.

Nevertheless, the kids competing in the annual pancake race sprinted admirably around the track.

Pancakes flew high in the sky, sometimes landing back in the skillet, sometimes in the grass. It didn’t really matter. The spectacle was the most important thing.

Peabody Community Foundation’s annual Pancake Day began with a pancake-and-sausage breakfast, provided through at-will donation, in the Brown Gymnasium.

The flapjacks were soft, hot, and plentiful, and people — around 75, according to director Paige Barnes — trickled in and out of the space. Kids scampered around the tables while parents sipped coffee and orange juice.

Local farmers had shown up when the breakfast began at 7 a.m., but by 9, they had disappeared — back to the fields, most likely.

Kids were separated into age groups for the big race at 10 a.m.

Local youths Ruthie, David, Mackenzie, and Hannah took home first in their respective divisions.

Following the race, former Peabody-Burns superintendent Ron Traxson announced which organizations would be receiving community grants.

• $300 went to pay for swimming lessons for local 5-to-10-year-olds.
• $500 went to Peabody’s Court Appointed Special Advocates branch, where volunteers help support neglected children.
• $650 was for the Kansas Learning Center for Health.
• $1,000 was given to the Peabody Christmas lights committee.
• $1,000 went to the Peabody Association of Churches’ “Safe Haven Communities,” which provide meals, child care, and training for those facing financial difficulties.
• $1,000 went to Families and Communities Together, an organization that provides families and children with holiday gifts and financial assistance.
• $1,200 will go to the historical society to help restore the Peabody Township Library.
• $2,300 went to the senior center to renovate their restrooms.

After checks had been distributed, Barnes discussed how organizations were selected.

“We develop a grant review committee with a couple of our foundation board members, and we pull people from the community that are willing to review the grants,” she said. “We have a meeting where they pull all of the scores together and go project by project and figure it out like that.”