Flipping for all on the Fourth

The volunteers serving up Pancakes on the Plaza quickly learn what it takes to feed Santa Fe

Dennis J. Carroll | For The New Mexican

7/4/2008 - 7/5/08

By about 11 a.m. Friday, pancake batter pourer Deborah Carr and flapjack flipper Andrew Binkley had pretty much mastered their appointed tasks at the Fourth of July Pancakes on the Plaza festival.

"Pour from a high angle and let it drip" was the technique Carr had developed for maximum speed and neatness. "And you have to be kind to your flipper and your grill."

Binkley, who works at Trader Joe's, said the secret to proficient flipping was a clean grill and a certain twirl in the wrist. "It's all in the wrist," he said.

Binkley and Carr were among about 400 volunteers from area businesses and nonprofits who were taking tickets, pouring, flipping, serving and then cleaning up the mess afterward at the 33rd annual holiday event held to raise money for Santa Fe charities and social service organizations. The funds go to foundations and social services supported by the United Way, Rotary and The New Mexican's Community Fund.

United Way board chairwoman Lucy Peterson said a primary focus of this year's event was programs for children, including the Santa Fe Children's Project, pre-kindergarten projects, and parent education and support programs.

Organizers said they figured they sold about 30 percent more pancake tickets than they did last year, when the event drew an estimated 12,000 people and raised $80,000.

The gathering was mostly an event for Santa Fe locals, though numerous foreign accents were wafting about the Plaza, as on any other day of the year.

And then there were Leon Leal and Connie Beaver, friends who had driven from Oklahoma City, Okla., (536 miles and 7 hours and 56 minutes, according to Mapquest) just to serve pancakes. Leal said he makes the drive every Fourth of July, just for something to do on the holiday. "We come down every year at our own expense," he said.

But it wasn't just the flapjack breakfasts, complete with vegetarian sausages and a choice of drinks, that drew thousands to the Plaza on a warm, sunny morning.

Paula Trujillo of Santa Fe had come for the music, specifically the group Manzanares, which was among several that performed on the bandstand.

She described the Manzanares beat as Nuevo Latino, a spicy mix of romantic European rumba and Carlos Santana-style rock 'n' roll. "We really need this in our culture," Trujillo said. "It's a reawakening of Spanish music, real fresh and alive."

The morning began with traditional red-white-and-blue music from the Air National Guard Band of the Gulf Coast, followed by a silent auction and a vintage car show — something for everybody, more or less.

By 12:30 p.m., when flipper Binkley had pretty much lost the twirl in his wrist, food supervisor Rick Berardinelli figured the volunteers had served up the 700 pounds of fruit, 500 pounds of vegetarian sausage and 700 gallons of orange juice donated by Trader Joe's; the 1,000 pounds of ham contributed by Whole Foods; and the 7,200 half-pint boxes of milk donated by Creamland Dairy. And, of course, the 700 gallons of pancake batter from the Hilton Hotel.

"There really wasn't too little, and there wasn't too much," Berardinelli said.

Any leftovers were to be given to area food banks.