Williamsburg Pancake Festival
This entire saga began in August, when Devaughn Henry ’28, the class of 2028 president, announced an event celebrating Williamsburg’s title as the Pancake Capital of America. This event, the Williamsburg Pancake Trail and Pancake Festival, piqued our interest. As seasoned breakfast enthusiasts, we saw this as a chance to further explore the options our town is supposedly known for.
Our excitement led us to sign up for the first step of the process online: The Williamsburg Pancake Trail. We encouraged our friends to sign up as well but to no avail; no one else was quite as excited as we were. However, we didn’t let their extreme negativity get us down, and we quickly mapped out the best way to participate in the Pancake Trail.
Essentially, the Trail was a game where participants could earn points by going to different pancake houses. Pancake enthusiasts could use the points for tickets to the Pancake Festival or a free T-shirt. We deliberated for a while on which pancake house we would go to before landing on Astronomical Pancake House, due to its 20% discount and the rumors of astronomically large pancakes.
We set off early the following morning to Astronomical. The restaurant was down Richmond Road a ways, and contrary to our assumptions, was not space themed. Rather, it had the quaint look — with its flowered wallpaper, wooden tables, and paper Virginia placemats — that just felt so characteristically Williamsburg, and it created an incredibly loving and welcoming atmosphere.
Astronomical had an incredibly large selection of pancakes to choose from, ranging from a fall-themed apple one, to banana ones, to chocolate chip pancakes. However, we both decided on fruit pancakes. Leah got the berry ones — plain pancakes topped with whipped cream, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries — while Anna got simple blueberry pancakes.
When the pancakes came out, they far exceeded our expectations. Each plate had two pancakes larger than our heads. The pancakes were incredibly fluffy, and, paired with the complimentary syrup, they definitely were an indulgent breakfast. Despite coming in determined to finish the whole stack, neither of us was even able to finish one. Ultimately, we decided that, if we were going to come again, it definitely would be in our best interest to split a stack.
After utilizing our 20% discount, we collected our 3 points from our visit to Astronomical and drove over to the Visit Williamsburg headquarters to redeem them on the Pancake Trail T-Shirt. When we got there, however, the workers seemed rather confused by our enthusiasm, but after we showed them that we had enough points for the T-shirt, the workers led us over to a woman who told us that we were the fourth and fifth participants to pick up the shirts. We suppose our enthusiasm got the best of us.
Unfortunately, we were not able to visit as many pancake houses as we initially set out to accomplish. However, the free T-shirts are not where our story ends.
It picks back up three weeks later at the official Williamsburg Pancake Festival located at the Hellenic Center. While it did require a short drive and subsequent struggle to find a parking spot, we walked in to find a college student’s heaven: free things.
Immediately upon entering, we were asked whether we wanted a free pair of Williamsburg Pancake Festival socks or an engraved ‘Visit Williamsburg’ spatula. We both chose the socks, not just because of how cute they were, but because of our current (and sometimes quite frustrating) lack of a non-communal kitchen.
We then made our way to the large community space where the walls were lined with local vendors sharing their favorite breakfast goods. Whether you prefer pancakes or tend to lean towards more savory options, there were many things to choose from. We tried everything we could, including pancakes, sausages, and grits. It was delicious and a welcome break from what would have been awaiting us at Sadler if we had decided to eat dinner with our non-breakfast enthusiast friends.
Our last adventure at the festival was decorating pancakes with chocolate chips, marshmallows, and sprinkles at a station that was clearly meant for children much younger than our 19-year-old selves. Despite that, it was a fitting conclusion to a fun night of breakfast for dinner.
This event was a two-day affair. The next morning’s festivities began with a sausage dog race, which, unfortunately, neither of us was able to attend. However, we met up just in time to witness the pancake-eating competition hosted by Major League Eating. It featured some of the nation’s top eaters, including Geoff Esper (No. 3), Miki Sudo (No. 5), and Nick Wehry (No. 7). Esper took home the top prize, setting a new world record in the process. If you are feeling hungry, you can challenge him for the most pancakes eaten in 10 minutes by eating more than 35. While the competition was not something we ever anticipated watching, it was quite a fascinating experience.
Overall, it is safe to say that we greatly enjoyed the First Annual Williamsburg Pancake Festival and are looking forward to dragging more of our friends along with us next year.
The moral of the story: read your class newsletter.