Boy Scouts sale, auction, pancake breakfast

A Homewood tradition returns when Boy Scout Troop 97 hosts its 41st annual garage sale, pancake breakfast and silent auction at Trinity United Methodist Church on May 12, 7 a.m. to noon.

The all-you-can-eat breakfast includes pancakes, sausage, coffee and juice. Bidding for the silent auction ends at 11 a.m. Proceeds go toward programming and materials, including camping gear, for Troop 97.

The event had a humble start, according to Dean Burgess, chair of the Troop Committee, which sponsors the event.

“It began by asking parents to donate a few items for a small garage sale, to raise a few dollars for troop equipment,” Burgess said.

Then scouts started cooking pancakes on camp stoves on the church lawn, according to Burgess, who said the food is now cooked in the Trinity kitchen. The silent auction was added later. And this year, the United Methodist Women will hold their annual flower sale at the event.

The sale now brings in “truckloads of used goods ranging from furniture to frying pans, golf clubs to glassware,” he said. “Our guests love looking for treasures in what other people discard.”

The event — led by longtime Scoutmaster Steve Lloyd — draws hundreds of people and is now “a fixture in Homewood,” Burgess said.

Tickets are $6 in advance — from any scout in the troop — or $7 at the door. For information about making sale donations, contact Bert Allen at 540-5343 or elbertsallen@yahoo.com. Donations will be accepted beginning May 9.