Siblings Weekend pancake breakfast saw about 700 attendees
Diary Tinnon, right, 4, and Zaniaha Tinnon, left, 7, from Detroit, finish a race down an inflatable obstacle course during the Siblings Weekend carnival Jan. 26 at the Student Activity Center.
Pancakes flew left and right in a crowded Finch Fieldhouse Saturday morning. The second and last day of Siblings Weekend kicked off on Jan. 26 with the annual pancake breakfast, hosted by Chris Cakes, a Clare-based catering company.
This year’s Siblings Weekend has brought almost 1,000 participants, said Damon Brown, director of Student Activities and Involvement. About 700 were estimated to have attended the pancake breakfast by Chris Cakes employees.
At the breakfast, participants could expect pancakes to be launched straight to their plates.
Allen Park sophomore Abbey Demorow and her brothers Anderson, 12, and Austin, 12, had “a blast catching the pancakes." However, Anderson was a bit nervous at first.
“I thought I’d be starving because I wouldn’t catch a single one but actually it took me three tries to get three pancakes,” Anderson said.
Edwin Schalm, a Chris Cakes employee, has been working Central’s Siblings Weekend for the past ten years.
“The first time (a pancake is tossed) a lot of kids close their eyes or jump or run away from it, but once they catch their first pancake, you would be amazed how fast that clicks,” Schalm said, laughing. “There’s a lot of fulfillment throwing hot food at small children.”
Junior Rachel Pohl attended the pancake breakfast with her brother Timothy, 14, and her parents Bob and Jackie.
“(The pancakes) are awesome, but I kind of like the experience more,” Rachel said. “It’s a new (experience) getting them flipped to you.”
Throughout the day, there were a wide variety of events including different sports, tie dye and painting, among others.
For Grayling freshman Carlie Wilson and her guest, Mya, 12, tie dying was the most memorable event from the weekend.
“We like to do creative things together,” Carlie said. “We’re very messy people, usually wherever we are, messes follow. We decided that a controlled environment level of mischief is good.”
Carlie said this weekend has been a good opportunity to “run around and be like kids."
“I know I’m only 18, but once you move to college, it’s a big responsibility and you have a lot to do with your life,” she said. “I want to show (Mya) that it’s okay to still be in touch with your little kid roots as an adult. She’s going to grow up eventually, but she doesn’t have to grow up right now.”
The carnival was another prominent event of the day, featuring laser tag, acapella groups, cotton candy, dance teams, inflatable obstacle courses and slides and much more.
By the time the carnival started, Flint sophomore Shayonna Key had shared a busy day with her siblings Kaniya Ingram, 9, and Kamar Ingram, 14.
“(The most memorable moment was when my) brother did the extreme level of the rock wall and almost made it to the top but gave up at the end,” Key said.
Kamar, however, did not consider it as “giving up” and said he “found (his) limit” instead. He would consider taking on the rock wall again.
At the carnival, Waterford freshman Steven Drake took his sister Colleen, 16, head-on in a game that required a fair amount of shoving.
“I was kicking his butt in video games today and I had to do it in real life as well,” Colleen said.
The carnival was the first event of the day for Steven and Colleen, but they’ve enjoyed spending their time together.
“It’s been fun because he doesn’t always come home every weekend, so it’s nice to hang out with him, play video games and hit each other with large inflatable sticks,” Colleen said.
Caricature artist, Corby Blem, was present throughout the day drawing both students and siblings.
“Siblings Weekend is one of my favorite weekends because there’s such a wide variety of people,” Blem said. “It’s always a lot of fun because you see so many young kids who are just very wide-eyed about the university experience.”
Pontiac graduate student Brianna Hughes faced her brother Isaac Hughes, 11, in a game of basketball at the Student Activities Center.
With this as their second Siblings Weekend, Brianna and Isaac continued the competition from last year.
Isaac was confident after winning their first round of the night,18-17. When asked about a rematch, Isaac claimed he was going to win again since “she took a L."
While some were bouncing on the inflatables, Belding sophomore Aurora Perez and her cousin Isabella Oles, 9, were dancing to the music.
“Anytime I’m home and there’s a good song, we’ll go downstairs and start just dancing, and I’ll teach her different dance things I learn in dance class,” Perez said.
Oles loves dancing so much she has decided she wants to become a ballerina and said Perez made a promise to fulfill that.
“(Perez) promised me that she’ll buy me all the stuff (to become a) ballerina,” Oles said.
This weekend was an opportunity for people to experience new things. For Clinton Township freshman Eva Steepe and her sister Audrey Steepe, 11, that new thing was Dippin Dots, an ice cream snack.
Audrey got cookie dough and said she “really liked it”.
While this Siblings Weekend is a first for some, other attendees were experienced returners. Cedar Springs senior Brianna Brugle and her sister Braylin’s, 7, have gone to every Siblings Weekend for the past four years and this is their last.
“It’s awesome (having Braylin up here)," Brianna said. "She gets so excited. She has told me multiple times ‘thank you so much for bringing me up here’ like I’m not kidding, probably 10 times a day. (After this year), I’m moving away, so it’s nice to have this moment right now before I leave.”
