Calgary Stampede volunteer creates flapjack pins to honour 100 years of pancake breakfasts

A Calgary woman is celebrating the 100th anniversary of pancake breakfasts by creating mini pancake pins and selling them for a good cause. 

Chantelle Ethier has been volunteering with the Calgary Stampede for the past 16 years, and says during that time, she has made friendships and shared stories through the hobby of pin collecting.

This year, Ethier used quarter-teaspoons of Calgary Stampede pancake batter cooked on a griddle to make 100 petite pancakes.

The tiny flapjacks were then sealed with two coats of polyurethane to preserve them, and transformed into pins.

"I thought originally I would make 100 pancake pins to honour the 100^th anniversary of the pancake breakfast," she said. "It started by sharing them with a few friends, but I kept getting so many compliments and people wanting to own one."

Chantelle Ethier made 100 pancake pins to honour the 100th anniversary of the pancake breakfast.Ethier decided then to make 100 more pins and sell them by donation, with all proceeds going to the Calgary Stampede Foundation.

Hundreds of dollars have been raised as a result.

"I absolutely had no idea that it was going to become this amazing entity of its own," she said.

"Pin collecting just brings people together and creates conversation, and it's just a really fun thing to do. There's so many different pins out there that you get excited when you see a new one."

Fellow Volunteer Gene Edworthy was so impressed with the pins that he bought 25 of them for the Calgary Stampede Band of Outriders.

"We perform all over the grounds every day through stampede and a lot of our members participated in the Guinness Book of World Records pancake breakfast the other morning," he said.

"When I saw that these pins were being sold, and that the donations were going to the Calgary Stampede Foundation, which is all about youth programming, I thought what a great way to memorialize the occasion."

Chantelle Ethier made 100 pancake pins to honour the 100th anniversary of the pancake breakfast.Other pin collectors like Barb Caron agree that the passion of a simple pin creates a real sense of community.

"I think it goes back to the 1988 Olympics here in Calgary when we started trading pins," she said.

"Now, it’s just a conversation piece, a way to tell others about fundraising efforts, how to support other groups and a way to make friends. It’s just an amazing energy connecting with others."

Pins have an incredible history at the Calgary Stampede, dating all the way back to the first known pin created in 1908.

Pin collecting has been a part of the Calgary Stampede for decades. Cassandra Cummings, historical specialist with the Calgary Stampede, says the pins are unique for each year, giving a snapshot of a certain theme.

"In previous years, that was actually your admission badge to come in as a volunteer or a staff member," she said.

"So you had to have your pin, but we've continued the tradition of pins, they mean a lot to volunteers in particular, it's really a tangible system or a tangible symbol of volunteerism at the Calgary Stampede."