Those Tough types from Calgary !

[Kip Powick]

'Wimpy' Calgarians cancel sidewalk pancakes

Nov 23, 2007 04:30 AM

John Goddard

staff reporter

A teeny bit of snow shut down the Calgary Pancake Breakfast yesterday, a Grey Cup street spectacle since 1948.

"I think that's pretty wimpy," said Saskatchewan Roughriders fan Evan Heidinger, on a bare stretch of Front St. W., where flapjacks and sausages were supposed to be grilling.

"They should be tougher than that," agreed his wife Diane, sporting a green-and-white 'Riders scarf against weather scarcely below freezing.

The wimp-out might finally mark the end of Calgary jokes about Toronto once mobilizing the army to shovel show. Or not.

Nearly 60 years ago, Calgary Stampeders fans cooked pancakes in front of Toronto's Union Station from batter they brought with them on the train. One fan rode a horse through the lobby of the Royal York Hotel opposite.

They were wild, those Calgarians. They were tough. They showed Toronto how to party and Calgary continues to sponsor breakfasts wherever the Grey Cup is held.

Until yesterday.

"It was probably for the safety of all the people," said Stampeders fan Shauna Aab on hearing of the cancellation. "Calgarians are so good-hearted."

"They didn't have a permit," suggested another member in her group. "They got bogged down filling out applications in triplicate from Toronto City Hall."

Along with 70 volunteer cooks, Calgary has sent the Stampeders cheerleaders, the queens and princesses of the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede, and a country-and-western band.

"If the weather changes, you'll see the Calgary band out there," said Pat Schlegel, willing to give the entourage some credit.

Darson Simair, originally from Yorkton, Sask., now living in Thornhill, said he saw Calgary cooks setting up early under ice pellets.

"They had actually made a few pancakes," said Simair, his face painted green-and-white Roughrider colours. "But the CFL shut them down."

Did the Calgarians wimp out or did Toronto league headquarters make them leave? At press time, the answer remained unclear.

"The Grey Cup Committee decided to take the Front St. party inside," said spokesperson Beth Waldman. "But (the Calgarians) could still have chosen to serve breakfast on their own."

The Roughriders meet the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the football classic on Sunday, the unofficial start to Canadian winter.