ML readies breakfast for 1,200

MEDICAL LAKE – It’s a long-standing tradition in Medical Lake. On the first day of fishing season, residents go to the fire station on Lefevre Street for a hearty breakfast of eggs, sausage, hash browns and pancakes before wetting a line.

“It’s just a nice community event,” said Lt. Joe Kokinda of the 44th Annual Fisherman’s Breakfast.

The festivities kick off at midnight on Saturday and go until noon on Sunday. The Fire Department parks the fire trucks behind the station and opens its bay doors to let in the community before they head out to catch fish in West Medical Lake, Medical Lake or some of the many other fishing holes around the West Plains.

“West Medical is some of the best fishing in the state,” Kokinda said. “You come to breakfast, and you go fishing.”

The event raises money for the Fire Fighters Association, which pays for the all-volunteer Fire Department’s numerous activities. The volunteers hold a Christmas banquet and awards ceremony and look after the family members of firefighters if there is an illness, a new baby or death in the family.

Fire Department volunteers must commit to at least 12 hours of service a week. There are currently between 25 and 30 volunteers, and the department is always angling for more.

Ninety percent of the calls the department receives are for emergency medical services, according to Kokinda and Ellen Fender, the administrative assistant and president of the Fire Fighters Association.

Fender said she has ordered 38 cases of eggs for the breakfast, and each case holds five dozen eggs. She also ordered 400 pounds of sausage, 400 to 500 pounds of hash browns, seven or eight cases of powdered pancake mix, 30 to 40 gallons of milk and several hundred gallons of juice.

Kokinda said volunteers anticipate between 1,000 and 1,200 people will come have breakfast before their fishing trips.

The firefighters aren’t the only ones to participate in the breakfast; many businesses and other civic groups help volunteer and donate items to be raffled.

Rusty Hubbard of Trophy Fish Guide Service has donated a guided fishing tour for the raffle which will be held at noon.

“It’ll be a day’s fishing trip for two people,” Kokinda said. “He goes all over the place.”

The raffle also will also include a barbecue, a four-person raft, camping gear and fishing poles for both adults and children. Raffle tickets are $1 each.

Along with the businesses in Medical Lake, volunteers for the breakfast come from the Medical Lake High School Junior ROTC, the local Boy Scouts, other youth organizations, high school students looking to complete community service hours required to graduate and family members of the firefighters.

The firefighters, however, do all the cooking.

Fender and Kokinda said the breakfast is always a fun event for the volunteers. They get to see many of their friends and neighbors, and often retired firefighters from Medical Lake come to say hello and contribute to the breakfast.

“I enjoy seeing the community and seeing the people come through,” Fender said.