Pancake Day: Our Town's Favorite Christmas Tradition!

Our little town is often to referred to as the real life Stars Hallow. There are specific days each year that leave us feeling like we really are living on a movie set.

Our annual Pancake Day is one of those days. 

On the first Saturday in December, the sizzle of hot grills and the aroma of doughy batter transforming into round, golden pancakes fill the streets of downtown. Long lines of laughing neighbors and families with bundled-up children form along the edges of the YMCO and First Baptist Church to get their stack of all-you-can-eat hotcakes.

Erin shares, "If you've ever lived in Laurel, you know the magic of Pancake Day. The early morning hours on the first Saturday in December are spent in line on Oak Street at the door of the old YWCO for pancakes and sausage, along with every person I've ever known in my life. Everyone shares tables with old friends, cousins, aunts, and uncles who've been doing this since they were young, too. And Laurel becomes something you only see in the movies."

Pancake Day festivities usually prelude the Downtown Laurel Christmas parade, the longest parade in Mississippi. This year, the Christmas parade will roll through downtown on the Friday night of December 1, 2023. 

Pancake Day also coincides with the anniversary of our flagship store, making the day even more special. This year marks 7 years since the re-opening of the historic Laurel Mercantile. 

The morning begins at 6 a.m. and folks are dedicated to get there as the soon as doors open, even though, after all of these years, we've never known them selling out of pancakes. Rain or shine, you can count on a line to get into the Y, but it moves quickly and is so worth it.. 

Erin designs each LMCo. candle to represent an important or nostalgic smell.Now you can get into the Pancake Day holiday spirit with the Pancake Day candle. 

She says, "We've labored to find the perfect notes of real maple syrup with just a smidge of smokey fire that reminds me of winter days growing up at my grandparents' cabin with the men cooking sausage and bacon in cast iron over an old wood-burning stove."