ESCANABA — The Escanaba Kiwanis Club annual Home and Garden Show — the event that famously includes a pancake breakfast as part of its major fundraiser — starts today. The show is bringing together over 40 vendors to the Ruth Butler Building (RBB) today through Sunday.

This year, pancakes, sausage, scrambled eggs, coffee and juice will be served from 5 to 8 p.m. today; from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday; and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday. Though the show goes until 7 p.m. on Saturday, pancakes exit the scene in the afternoon and Wildman’s Munchie Mobile becomes the food provider from 2 to 7 p.m. to allow for another activity to occupy space in the Ruth Butler Building.

2025 is the second year that a family night has been added to the show. Between 4 and 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 5, activities for kids DJ music, karaoke, dancing, art projects, and a talent show take over a portion of the show.

Michigan State University Extension will provide information for gardeners and do a few demonstrations periodically during the show.

Though it’s taking place in the spring with gardening and home improvement as the main theme, the Home and Garden Show isn’t limited to just those subjects. Vendors at the booths that will line the RBB at the fairgrounds the first weekend of April sell and specialize in a variety of goods and services.

Kiwanis, an international service organization, was founded in the mid-1910s in Detroit. Though the first few years were centered on business networking, the group changed its focus in 1919 to service for children, which remains its function today. All Kiwanis clubs are primarily geared towards serving children; their causes support health and nutrition, education and literacy, and youth leadership development.

The Escanaba branch was formed in 1922. In 1957, Kiwanians in Esky began organizing Pancake Days to raise funds. The first Home and Garden Show came in 1978 — still including Pancake Days.

The show is free to attend. The pancake meal is free for children five and under, $5 for kids aged six through 12, and $9 for persons 13 and older.