Misunderstanding prompts Salem Fire & Rescue not to move forward with pancake breakfast during RAGBRAI

SALEM - Salem Fire & Rescue will no longer be hosting a pancake breakfast during RAGBRAI after a misunderstanding between a Salem City Council member and the department.

During a city council meeting, Chris Feehan, a city council member and member of the fire department, said the fire department was 'very upset” with Salem's RAGBRAI Committee and is pulling 25 volunteers because they were told they couldn't do a pancake breakfast.

Steve Nichting, chief of Salem Fire & Rescue, said they will still have about a dozen volunteers with EMS present during RAGBRAI.

Feehan said city council member and RAGBRAI Committee member Mary Hoyer told Nichting in an email that the department couldn't serve food during RAGBRAI.

'You had 25 volunteers walk,” Feehan said. '(Steve Nichting) is very upset, and so is the entire fire department. They're tired of being met with opposition from the city.”

Feehan said the department was planning on taking the proceeds from the food they sold during RAGBRAI to help the city pay for the new self- contained breathing apparatus they purchased for the department.

Hoyer said she is sorry that Nichting felt that he was being met with opposition. Hoyer said she simply told Nichting what she understood the Lee County Board of Health told her, which is that vendors at RAGBRAI need a health permit and she thought Nichting hadn't applied for one on behalf of Fire & Rescue.

Hoyer said that she also thought Fire & Rescue wasn't going to host a food tent, and so she found other vendors to feed all the people expected to be in Salem during RAGBRAI.

Nichting said he was told through the health department that he didn't need a food permit.

'We're just going to be there for the EMS part. We got tired of arguing, so we decided we weren't doing (any food for) RAGBRAI,” Nichting said.

Nichting said that residents can find Fire & Rescue's pancakes at Old Settlers in August.

According to the 2019 RAGBRAI Food Service and License Guide, a nonprofit organization like Salem Fire & Rescue is exempt from licensing requirements when serving, selling or providing food or beverages on the premises regularly used by the nonprofit organization. A license is also not required two times a year for a nonprofit to serve food to the public for up to three consecutive days.

Joel Garretson, RAGBRAI Committee member, said that the committee is doing their best to prepare for RAGBRAI, but not a lot of people attend organizational meetings.

RAGBRAI will pass through Salem on Friday, July 26.