Erie\u2019s Biscuit Day will look a tad different this year after members of the town\u2019s Historical Society say the event has outgrown their resources.<\/p>\n
The annual Biscuit Day will still happen from 8 to 11 a.m. Saturday, with local businesses Lucile\u2019s Creole Cafe and Stacy\u2019s Kitchen stepping up to keep the tradition going. On the menu at both establishments will be a $10 plate of biscuits and gravy.<\/p>\n
Family-friendly activities, including two \u201cNo-Hands Biscuit and Jam Eating\u201d contests, will also take place Saturday in the parking lot at 212 Wells St. A\u00a0full schedule and more information is available on the event\u2019s webpage<\/a>.<\/p>\n But Biscuit Day will be smaller than in past years,<\/a> when the Erie Historical Society hosted up to 30 booths along Briggs Street, according to Erin Wise Jones, the society\u2019s president.\n<\/p>\n The society has hosted Biscuit Day since 2002, relying on town grants, donations and volunteers to run the event.<\/p>\n Biscuit Day has typically been the society\u2019s only fundraising event of the year, bringing in \u201cupwards of $15,000\u201d to help cover maintenance costs at the Wise Homestead Museum, Jones said.<\/p>\n The society decided not to organize this year\u2019s Biscuit Day because of how large the event has become. Jones said she doesn\u2019t have specific attendance data but that \u201cin the last several years, it\u2019s gotten so big that it\u2019s really been a strain.\u201d<\/p>\n Last year, the event served up 3,000 biscuits and more than 50 gallons of gravy.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Erie has grown rapidly \u201cto the point where, when we started it in 2002, it was a small local community event that one person could handle,\u201d Jones said, adding that most of the society\u2019s members are either working full time or retired and \u201ccould not take on the chore of organizing everything and coordinating everything for such a huge event.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re thrilled that it has morphed into this huge community-loved event and I couldn\u2019t be more delighted, but we just don\u2019t have the participation and the membership to keep it going,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The Erie Historical Society was founded in 1984 to help preserve the town\u2019s history, and while Erie\u2019s population has grown significantly in recent years, support for the society has not kept pace, according to Jones.<\/p>\n \u201cAs far as why people aren\u2019t sticking around with the society to help as docents, I don\u2019t know. I think it boils down to people being busy, they have jobs,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Jones said nearby historical preservation groups in Lafayette and Louisville receive some support from their local governments, while Erie\u2019s does not have the same funding pipeline. Without its usual Biscuit Day fundraiser, the Erie Historical Society is \u201cstruggling this year trying to figure out how to generate the same income.\u201d<\/p>\n The society on Saturday will hold a silent auction at a booth in the Bridge Refill Market parking lot at 285 Cheesman St.\n<\/p>\n Bids will \u201chelp care for artifacts, share historic photographs and printed materials, and keep programs like Blacksmith Shop renovation and the Wise Homestead Museum open to visitors,\u201d according to the auction\u2019s webpage<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jones\u2019 great-aunt Sarah Allene Wise, who died last month, helped start the historical society and was instrumental in creating the Wise Homestead Museum, a former farmhouse belonging to their forebears, one of the pioneering families of the St. Vrain Valley.<\/p>\n