End of a Stampede era: Final Hays pancake breakfast takes place Sunday

It was 1950 and one Calgary-area dairy farmer decided he wanted to call over his friends for a bit of a party after the work was done for the morning. Of course, that farmerwas Harry Hays.

From humblebeginnings, the Hays family Stampede pancake breakfast became one of the most well-known invitation-onlybreakfasts in town over the following seven decades.

"He was a prominent member of the downtown Rotary Club and a budding politician, although he didn't know it at the time, and was a very prominent breeder of Holstein cattle," Dan Hays recalls of his late father.

Harry Hays went on to become Calgary's mayor as well as a member of parliament and the federal minister of agriculture.

This Sunday, July 7, after the 69th event, the Hays family is hanging up their pancake flippers and cowboyhats.

"People get older," Dan told theDavid Gray, host of the Calgary Eyeopener. "I'm 80 and my children don't seem to have the same interest in all the work that goes into the Hays breakfast."

From regular Joes to prime ministers

Dan believes every sitting prime minister has attended the breakfast at some point in their term. And those visits come with stories to be told. Harry Hays's daughter-in-law Kathy Hays says prime minister Lester B. Pearson's visit really stands out.

"I remember reading about when Pearson was here and Pearson and Harry Hays had an argument on stage and Pearson won. So he milked the cow that year. And that was kind of fun, Kathy said.

And why did anyone need to milk a cow, you ask?

Dreaded concoction of choice

Syllabub is amilk-based mystery concoctionnotoriously associated with the breakfast.

"It's up to the individual chef [or] bartender to throw in whatever he or she wishes to make in that particular recipe at that particular time. Dan and Dan's fatheralways felt that because of the dairy connection,why not fresh milk?" Kathy explained.

And so there is always a cow on hand to provide the freshest milk possible. But as for demystifying the remaining ingredients there within, the Hays family will have none of that.

"That's the ultimate secret. But you name it, we throw it in," Kathy said.

"Most of which have some alcoholin their base," Dan added. "It's not for kids."

"I think the alcohol is just to cover up all the other flavours," Kathy said with a chuckle.

Generations immersed in western hospitality

"The legacy of the Hays breakfast will go down in history and we're privileged to have been a partner and host location for this one-of-a-kind event for the past two decades," says Alida Visbach, president and CEO of Heritage Park Historical Village.

"The Hays Breakfast has entertained, satiated and immersed multiple generations of Calgarians with our city's unmatched western hospitality."

The final breakfast is going to be held at theHeritage Park Historical Village from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.

The event is by invitation only, with more than2,000 people expected to attend including PremierJason Kenney, Mayor Naheed Nenshi,the Stampede royalty, as well as members of the Canadian military, and rodeo and chuckwagonpersonalities.

With files from theCalgary Eyeopener.