The Brothers Krone, Darrell and Bob, were expected to rise well before dawn today, rub the sleep from their eyes and be at Humboldts St. Peters Lutheran Church to help with the annual Groundhog Feed.
Bob, 59, will station himself at the mixing table, creating rich pancake batter. His chore is to crack eggs 30 dozen by mornings end. That Bob, a big man, likes to crack small, delicate eggs seems an anomaly, but he does.
Darrell, 70, helps wherever needed.
The event has been around since 1958. Fare is simple, pancakes and sausage hog meat ground and spiced just right.
For years Merle Sterling and other farmers provided the hogs, but as that phase of agriculture has waned in local operations, outside sources have been tapped.
This years feed is a bit special for Bob. He missed last years, a first, because of foot surgery. He still isnt tip-top, but a few aches and pains wont keep him away today.
The sausage is fresh, processed at Bollings locker plant in Moran, and has everything in it except ribs, bacon and the squeal.
Pancakes are not made entirely from scratch, but close.
Curt Mueller, faithful Lutheran that he is, picks up 200 pounds of dry mix produced by Kansas State milling science students and totes it from Manhattan. (Be advised, it might have a smidgen of a purple tint, but thats OK.)
Bob and his compadres add milk to the mix (instead of prescribed water), oil and eggs. The batter then is ladled onto large griddles specifically constructed 60 years ago just for the feed.
THE FEED begins at 6 a.m. and will continue to fill platters with steaming hot pancakes and sizzling sausage until 1 this afternoon.
We used to be open 12 hours, 6 to 6, but that just got to be too much, Darrell declared, for the older composition of the churchs mens group.
The fundraisers admission price of $6 for adults and $3 for kids generates about $1,500 profit. Income goes to church projects, including a summer picnic for the congregation and support for a Lutheran Ministries float in the Rose Bowl Parade. If any sausage is left, it is consumed at the churchs Easter sunrise service breakfast.
Record turnout for the feed is 623.
The event has had its light moments.
Back in the 19070s when Arlin Alpers was pastor, sausage was prepared in Le Roy. One day Alpers phone rang. Martin Luther, the butchers name in Le Roy, began the conversation: This is Martin Luther. Alpers, thinking the caller was pulling his leg, dropped the receiver to its cradle.
All worked out. The sausage patties arrived with no Reformation strings attached.
THE KRONE brothers were born and raised in Humboldt and have been fixtures since, except for four years Darrell spent in the Navy. He was aboard aircraft carriers Coral Sea and Oriskany, much of the time in the South China Sea launching sorties against targets in Vietnam.
