By Jennifer Theurer
The Lyona United Methodist Church, northeast of Woodbine, Kansas, is hosting their 82nd annual Ground Hog Supper February 2 from 3:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
According to Austin Anders, director of the Dickinson County Historical Society, around the time of World War II, the trustees of the church were looking for a fundraiser. The men of the church would gather to chop wood for the two wood-burning stoves that heated the church on Sunday mornings, and the trustees saw their opportunity.
He said the church decided to use the workers they had available and host a sausage meal. Once the men were done chopping wood, they would butcher a hog and grind it into sausage for the fundraiser meal that same day.
Eighty-two years later, the fundraiser still serves sausage but now includes pancakes, waffles, homemade ice cream, and a numbered seating system.
“Our Fellowship Hall only holds so many people,” Anders said of the 167-year-old church building. “So what we do is when people come into the church we give them a ticket and then they’ll go sit down. As people clear out of the Fellowship Hall, we’ll call your number to come eat the pancake feed.”
As attendees wait for their turn to eat, the church provides live entertainment.
“Every year we have local entertainment that comes in whether it’s a group like a quartet from the local high school or maybe some people from Junction City,” Anders said. “Or just some local citizens that would like to play.”
