Brunch offers chance for business community to thank local farmers

MOSES LAKE — Come December, the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce will have been feeding farm families for a quarter of a century.

On Dec. 3, the chamber will host a Farm Family Brunch at the Golden Corral Family Steakhouse between 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

The menu will include pancakes, french toast, ham, bacon, sausage, omelets, scrambled eggs, hash browns, sausage and gravy, biscuits and gravy, assorted fruits, bread pudding, apple crisp, dessert bar, juice, coffee and tea.

"It got started because many years ago, we used to host a dinner for farmers," explained chamber manager Karen Wagner. She added that the dinner got to be "kind of pricey," as dinners can run into other things besides food, and Wagner wanted to put on a family event, so it was decided to start a farm family brunch.

"It turned out to be kind of a kick-off for the Christmas season, and it's now really gotten to be a good event because the Moses Lake Business Association does their farmer appreciation parade (the night before) the Saturday event," Wagner pointed out. "It's gotten to be a social thing. Sometimes neighbors don't see each other except at the Farm Family Brunch."

It's also the business community's opportunity to say "Thank you" to the agricultural community for shopping in Moses Lake, Wagner said.

"Agriculture has always provided a stable economy for us, and it's always nice to say thank you," she said. "The only way we can do it is to have the business community really cooperate."

That means business community members purchasing host tickets, at $60 each.

"Each host ticket that they buy allows us to invite four farm people," Wagner explained. "It also gives the host two tickets."

The chamber has a list of more than 250 full-time farm families that shop in Moses Lake. Letters will be e-mailed to those families explaining the event and inviting them to register for their free brunch tickets. Tickets will be sent out in the name of the host business.

Businesses should return their host ticket purchase orders to the chamber office by Nov. 10 for planning purposes, Wagner said.

The brunch can draw between 300 to 400 people.

"It really is a fun morning, and Santa is always willing to have his picture taken with any child of any age," Wagner said.