Street Breakfast - CSPM

Street Breakfast

Imagine – or maybe you don’t need to – eating breakfast while sitting on a hay bale. The pancakes and eggs are graciously prepared by Fort Carson soldiers, but the food is not the highlight. This cherished tradition draws thousands downtown every summer to promote the upcoming Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo. Attendees enjoy listening to western music, bidding goodbye to the Pikes Peak Range Riders as they head off to the mountains, and the potential of seeing someone you know, but least suspect, to be wearing a cowboy hat.

– From the CSPM Curator of History

The Pikes Peak Range Riders organization was founded in 1949 by Kenneth D. Brookhart and Everett R. Conover. They gathered a group of interested townsmen together to make a five-day horseback trail ride as a way to promote the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo. Since that beginning the Range Riders have grown to a large philanthropic organization which in 1998 became the Range Riders Foundation as a way to focus their community activities.

Most of their charitable work is with young people, and those with special needs in our community. These activities are designed to focus on western, agricultural, and equine themes. Learning about “the cowboy way,” includes activities to enhance: 1. learning through exposure, mentoring, and leadership; 2. your word is your bond; 3. Learn the freedom to fail and to succeed by trying something new and if you fail, try again.

The Range Riders leave on their five-day mountain-ride-about from the Colorado Springs Western Street Breakfast, which is planned for June 16, 2021 after being cancelled in 2020. This breakfast has become an annual fundraising event that supports our local military and their families. The organizers are looking for more than 10,000 hungry visitors this year. And what does it take to serve 10,000 people breakfast? 1,1000 pounds of pancake batter, 1,500 pounds of eggs, 80 gallons of syrup, 500 gallons of coffee, 7,500 pints of milk, 2,500 pints of juice, and 1,100 bales of straw for seating! This takes place in the center of downtown, blocking off streets and making a big breakfast room outside in the middle of the street!

Cooperation, coordination, and western hospitality make the Range Riders, the Street Breakfast, and the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo into an outstanding three part package of the “western tradition” in Colorado Springs.

Generously submitted by John Orsborn, CSPM Volunteer Educator

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