RAGBRAI's longest running vendor Chris Cakes still flips flapjacks after 49 years
The announcer's voice echoed into a microphone in small town Slater, just north of Ankeny.
"Chris Cakes, just down the road on the right! Celebrating 49 years on RAGBRAI!" he said.
Half a block away, Chris Cakes was stationed with a staff of seven folks on Day 4 of the ride. Dozens of riders held onto their handlebars and looked for RAGBRAI's longest running vendor on the pass-through town's main drag.
The pit stop for pancakes first popped up on RAGBRAI's second ride in 1974. Now, 49 years later, Chris Cakes is still serving sausage links and spatula tossing four stacks onto Styrofoam plates.
The RAGBRAI fixture charges $10 cash for all-you-can-eat helpings of golden-brown pancakes topped with sappy syrup. At Chris Cakes, the White brothers Darren of Maryville, Missouri, and Gregg, who resides in Pocahontas, are RAGBRAI staples who greet riders with a perfect mix of comedic relief and a home cooked meal.
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How Chris Cakes provides the perfect mix of nostalgia and newness
Chris Cakes was founded by a Pocahontas County sheriff dispatcher Loren Christiansen in Pocahontas in 1969. Christiansen felt pancakes weren't up to par and lines for breakfast were too long at the local American Legion.
So, Christiansen created a contraption to cook his own griddle cakes by piping out batter onto a hot grill. He planned to rent the device to locals, but he hit a snag.
"What he discovered was that people didn't want to cook either and so they would ask him to cook, and it kind of grew from there," Darren White said.
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Later, Christiansen quit his job at the sheriff's office to cook full time. He would head out to serve pancakes on Midwest farms and at RAGBRAI each year after venturing out to the ride's second jaunt in 1974.
"The guy (Christiansen) that started Chris Cakes started out in year two and Chris Cakes has been on it ever since," Darren White said.
Around 1990, Chris Cakes switched hands as the White family, including matriarch Evonne and patriarch Ted, bought out the company's founder. For nearly 35 years, they have cemented Chris Cakes as a RAGBRAI staple.
"We've seen it evolve over the years. We've seen the up years, the down years and the changes," Darren White said.
'RAGBRAI does much better when it goes through the small towns'
Chris Cakes posts up each year in pass through towns where hungry cyclists seek hydration and a taste of home.
The brothers have served former presidents and pro athletes from Barack Obama at an off-ride campaign event in Sioux Falls to RAGBRAI regular and retired American cyclist Lance Armstrong.
White said he has enjoyed meeting headline makers, but his best memories are from getting to know folks around the world who spend a week in Iowa.
RAGBRAI is about togetherness, Darren White said, where small town populations multiply by thousands for one week in late July.
"It really gives some of these small towns a chance to shine. RAGBRAI does much better when it goes through the small towns because the small towns are able to embrace it a little more than the big city," Darren White said.
During RAGBRAI's stop in Slater, New York-based "trumpet chick" Alicia Rau stopped for a quick bite on a street curb. The musician plays her trumpet up and down the rolling Iowa hills during the ride. Rau, who is on her 11th RAGBRAI, said she loves seeing Chris Cakes on the route because she needs digestible fuel.
"Chris Cakes is going to feed my next hill that I'm going to play on, so I'll play the theme song from (the movie) 'Rocky,'" Rau said.'
Gail Mercuri, a second-time rider who lives on Staten Island, said she was waiting for Chris Cakes on the ride.
"I looked for them today because I wanted to have my pancakes," Mercuri said.
How Chris Cakes is creating a recipe for success
The brothers lost their dad in 2016. Ted flipped pancakes until six months before his death. Evonne still keeps the books, fields phone calls and files paperwork at 87.
On July 26, as riders strolled through Slater on foot due to route congestion, dozens walked through the Chris Cakes line to catch pancakes with Styrofoam plates. Some riders jumped up high. One caught cakes behind his back.
"Are you Chris?" a rider asked Darren White, who donned a tropical shirt and cargo shorts.
"Believe it or not, the original Chris retired over 30 years ago," Darren White replied.
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After "hey yous" and "hellos," the brothers chatted with yearly riders and introduced themselves to newbies. Darren asked them to "throw plates back up" if anybody wanted seconds, which are highly encouraged.
Every coffee cup poured and pancake served is a tribute to Ted and link to Loren's legacy.
To the White brothers, RAGBRAI is bigger than batter.
"It's one of those things that's really uniquely Iowa and it's something that really brings everybody together for people from around the world and they just feel welcomed here," Darren White said.
Darren hopes riders come back for seconds — for 49 more years.
Jay Stahl is an entertainment reporter at The Des Moines Register. Follow him on Instagram or reach out at jstahl@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: RAGBRAI 50's longest running vendor Chris Cakes feeds riders pancakes
