The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
by Dessa Rodeffer, Quill Publisher/Owner
No one goes away hungry from the La Harpe Lions Club breakfasts. If they do, it is their own fault for they are offered more than anyone could ever eat.
Warm biscuits and sausage gravy, scrambled eggs, hot pancakes and syrup, sausage patties along with coffee, orange juice, white and chocolate milk.
The Lions really enjoy sworking together and serving the community and they appreciate all who come to their fall and spring breakfast fund-raisers.
According to Lawrence Johnson who was helping at the door taking donations and keeping a running count of the attendance, the fall breakfast is held each year in conjunction with the Fort Madison Rodeo to accommodate some of the crowd who stop by on their way back home.
Pictured is cowboy Robyn Gourley of rural Winchester who has horses and said he has been attending the rodeo for 38 years.
"I come up through Carthage, but I always come back this way to enjoy the excellent breakfast. I look forward to it every year."
Gourley and his friends Kevin and Sue Cadwell, Chief of Police in Bluff-Robert Smith, wife Dee Dee and son Steve Smith talked how they enjoyed the rodeo, the bullriding and the entertainment. They recalled seeing Roy Rogers, Annie Oakley and Gene Autry in earlier visits to the rodeo. They always have fun.
"I got thrown by a bull last night, Gourley said, "...a mechanical one."
La Harpe Lion members Glen Gleason and Eric Balmer pile the pancakes on Tom Weaver's plate as Lion John Siegworth (right) and Lion Chuck White (far left) look on.
La Harpe Lions look busy as they patty-up and weigh 400 lbs. of sausage for the two-day annual Lions Breakfast at the La Harpe Clubhouse from 6 a.m. until 10 a.m.. From left are Larry Finch, Larry Johnson, Brad Johnson, and Richard Ketcham.
The Lions fed 316 for breakfast Saturday morning, and around 250 Sunday morning for a total somewhere between 550 and 600 for the two day event. The breakfast benefits the Lions eye-glass program and other community endeavors.
Many local folks support the breakfast as well as several out-of-towners who go to the Ft. Madison, Iowa Rodeo each year and stop by for breakfast on their way home.
Above, Lion Glen Gleason serves a cowboy (Robyn Gourley from Winchester, IL), some scrambled eggs, and warm biscuits while Lion John Siegworth waits to put on the sausage gravy and a sausage patty. At left, Lion Joe Gutting makes sure there are plenty of hot biscuits out of the oven for the buffet.