ELLSWORTH, Maine — The Ellsworth Rotary Club's annual Blueberry Pancake Breakfast returned this year after a two-year pause due to the pandemic. The breakfast was held at the Ellsworth YMCA on Saturday.
Organizers say the rotary club has hosted this fundraising event at the YMCA for more than 50 years.
The breakfast, including blueberry pancakes, gluten-free pancakes, sausage, juice, and coffee, started at 7 a.m. and ended at 10 a.m.
Tickets were $9 for adults and $5 for children under the age of 10. All proceeds from the event went toward supporting community members and local nonprofits.
"We try to give out $5,000 to $8,000 worth of scholarships for local high [school] students every year, plus we give out money to local nonprofits to help with their efforts as well, as do community service projects," Clyde Cushing, president of the Ellsworth Rotary Club, said.
Lincoln Ehrlenbach, a member of the Ellsworth Rotary Club, says they had about 60 to 70 volunteers helping out Saturday morning to make the event a success.
"We've been working on this event probably for two months. Going out in the community, raising funds, soliciting for materials and the sausage and the batter and the syrup and the coffee, it's a lot of work," Ehrlenbach said.