Batter sizzled on a hot griddle.

Minutes later Erica Knapp flipped pancakes, filling plates during the 58th annual Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper at St John’s Episcopal Church, 5 Washington Avenue. Erica’s mother Janet Knapp took the fresh plates, added a side of apple sauce, and passed the waiting dishes to Mary Fellows or Melanie Mattegat, who were among servers welcoming guests to the church’s downstairs hall.

Between 5 and 7 pm on Tuesday, February 17, despite the cold weather, residents filled the church stairwell, waiting to purchase their dinner tickets.

Erica kept up a steady pace of mixing and baking pancakes, which her mother and volunteer Lisa Ryan assisted with in the kitchen. Wearing a batter-specked green apron and smiling was Stephanie Schneiderman, who also helped serve and clear tables where guests, including Cindy and Bob Mitchell, enjoyed a fresh coffee and pancake supper.

Also working in the kitchen was church warden Bruce Moulthrop. The all-you-can-eat dinners of pancakes, applesauce, and beverages included Mr Moulthrop’s home-style corned beef hash, which returned this year after a one-year hiatus.

The church’s pancake suppers have been going on for 58 years, Mr Moulthrop said, which is several years longer than the Rotary Club’s annual December Pancake Breakfast at the Edmond Town Hall.

The dinner has been popular ever since the tradition began, he said. A professional chef for 30 years, Mr Moulthrop was well prepared to help serve the roughly 100-200 guests that generally stop in during the two-hour event. Always taking place on the Tuesday night before Ash Wednesday, the date is historically when Episcopal churches made pancakes.

“It seems like a dying era,” he said. “When I was a kid, every church on the block had one — I want to keep that tradition alive.”