Grange Master Terry Beckler, a 1966 Tahoma High School graduate, had been serving all-you-can-eat pancakes at Cedar Grange in the original “downtown” Maple Valley” for most of his life. About 150 folks stopped in each third Sunday of the month. Oldtimers who had lived their entire lives in the Maple Valley area frequented the breakfasts as did the drive-by curious. The menu included ham, eggs, drinks, and hotcakes for $6.00. Specialty items like biscuits and gravy had been added to the traditional menu for an additional 50-cents. Oldtimers, newcomers, and churchgoers were captivated by the history and flavor of the Cedar Grange Pancake Breakfast.
Then, in 2019 came Covid 19. It disrupted lives, families, businesses, sports, education, social gatherings, and more, throughout 2020 and 2021. Ongoing new variants continued into 2022. “The odds are against us starting up breakfast any time soon,” says Beckler, who laments the fact that a hold had been put onto groups that rented space in the building – square dancers, scouts, AA, NA and more. Multiple break-ins and ongoing destruction inside the empty Cedar Grange building occurred. In addition to the lack of income and the destruction, there are not volunteers prepared to serve breakfast. All these conditions make the future of the Cedar Grange Pancake Breakfast pretty much unknown.
