Early birds rise for Cowboy Breakfast

Morning event kicks off fair week

MOSES LAKE — Somewhere during the Cowboy Breakfast, there's a shift in the patronage.

Sally Goodwin knows. The executive director of the Moses Lake Business Association has seen her share of the Friday morning event, including the one that started Friday at 6:30 a.m., and was scheduled to last until 10:30 a.m.

"It's really fun to see the dynamics," Goodwin said. "Early in the morning, you get the people that are going to work, and by 8 a.m., that crew is pretty much gone. By 9 a.m., you get a lot of the seniors, retired people, and they sit around until it's too hot to sit here anymore."

The event was sponsored by the MLBA, the Moses Lake Rodeo Association and the Moses Lake Noon Kiwanis.

"This is one of our major fund-raisers for a lot of our programs, where we do scholarships for youth (and) a lot of our programs where we assist a lot of local organizations and a number of their activities," said Ken Sterner, Kiwanis president-elect.

The morning also included live entertainment and help from the Key Club, the sponsor club for Kiwanis at Moses Lake High School. Tables were donated by Moses Lake Soroptimists.

The breakfast cost $5 a plate, and included pancakes, bacon, sausage, eggs, juice, milk and coffee.

"They just show right up, and we have a great turn-out every year," Sterner said. He added that the number of people who come by the breakfast usually runs between 450 and 500. The same was expected this year.

However, the origins of the event are a bit of a mystery.

"We've had members since as early as 1949 that are still here," Sterner said, adding with a laugh, "And they can't remember when it started. So (it's been here) at least several decades, in one form or another."

Mike Riggs was one of the first people standing in line. He had a meeting in Wenatchee later that day, and was expected to leave at 7 a.m.

"It's either squeeze it in now, or not have breakfast," he said.

Riggs said a sense of community spirit and support for the local event kept him coming back to the breakfast.

Former Moses Lake resident Mike Philmlee got up at 3 a.m. and headed from Kennewick for the breakfast and to spend time with friends, providing a trailer for the fair.

"It's a fund-raiser," Philmlee said of his reasons for attending, noting that it was his first time at the breakfast.

Carry Lyles was equally succinct in her reasons for attending the breakfast, indicating eating companion Ken Gibson, appropriately dressed for the occasion in his cowboy hat.

"(I'm here) because he's buying breakfast," she said with a laugh.

"That's a good excuse," Gibson replied. He's been coming every year. And what keeps him coming back? "Breakfast."