VALLEY VIEW - Generations of fathers joined together Sunday morning for the 64th annual Father's Day ham-and-eggs breakfast sponsored by St. Andrew's United Methodist Church Men's Bible Class.
Cooler temperatures - in the 40s from 5 to 7 a.m. - didn't keep about 500 people from enjoying the tradition this year.
"This is the way they started. Coal miners and farmers used to be up at this time. Farmers were milking their cows at four in the morning," Dave Williams, president of the Bible class, said.
The class accepts donations, but does not charge for the breakfast.
"We don't do it for the money, we do it because of the great men's fellowship," Williams said. "Men will stay as the day goes on and catch up with old friends they haven't seen in a while."
The eggs are donated by Twin Valley Farmers Exchange and the ham is bought from Bixler Country Meats. Other various supplies are bought at Redner's Markets.
Generation's of men attended the breakfast together, including Bob Updegrave, 60, of Valley View, and his family. "It's a family tradition, now," Updegrave said.
"We like just getting together and sitting with everyone," Bob's son, Scott Updegrave, 45, of Valley View, said.
Bob Updegrave's grandsons were there, as well. His grandson, Caden Richards, 11, of Valley View, said he likes the breakfast tradition and wants to keep coming each year.
The fellowship the men feel while at the breakfast is enough for them to keep attending each year.
"You can get breakfast anywhere. It's the friends and people that are my favorite part," Robert "Whitey" Klinger, 89, of Valley View, said. He also said with a laugh that he is probably the oldest one there each year.
Gathering for good fellowship isn't the only tradition the breakfast has. The same cast iron cooking pans have been used since the very beginning. Pans are washed, coated in oil and stored in plastic bags until the next year.
History also is involved regarding the building where the breakfast is annually held.
"In 1910, it was a barn and this whole park was a farm. The building was struck by lightning and burned down," Williams said. "When the park came in, they poured cement over the stone base that was left and made it an eating house."
Lighting the eating house has also been a tradition passed down from those who started the breakfast.
"They used yellow lights to keep away the bugs while cooking," Williams said.
Although the meal is made up of generations of tradition, each breakfast moves forward with new additions.
"The men used to just have plain bread with their meal, but now we have a couple of powerful toasters that were donated, so they can have toast with their ham and eggs," Williams said.
New volunteers also show up each year.
"When there are baptisms in the church, we contact the men whose child was baptized each year to help out. A few normally do and even return to help with these breakfasts," Williams said.
The breakfast was predominantly male, but more women show up each year.
"Some father's don't have sons and will bring their daughters now," Jim Zerbe, a Bible class member, said.
The volunteers from the class truly their time helping out each year.
Bill Wagner, 81, of Valley View, loves to serve the ham each year. "I like seeing all the people and the fellowship," Wagner said. "They like the ham."