St. Anthony Fisherman’s Breakfast will be canceled for the first time in history
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ST. ANTHONY — For the first time in 64 years, the St. Anthony Fisherman’s Breakfast has been canceled.
The annual event draws thousands from across eastern Idaho and has kicked off the opening of fishing season every year since 1955. But the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the St. Anthony Chamber of Commerce to scrap the gathering, which had been scheduled for Friday, May 22.
“We’re going along with what the president says with everything being shut down until the end of April,” Harry Halkar, one of breakfast’s chairmen, tells EastIdahoNews.com. “That puts us too close to getting all the supplies for the breakfast, so we just decided to call it quits this year.”
The Fisherman’s Breakfast began June 3, 1955, with volunteers giving out free coffee and doughnuts to travelers headed to St. Anthony, Ashton and Island Park to fish. Since then, it’s turned into a community staple with a full hearty breakfast – always free.
“This has been a great happening for this town for decades, and we feel bad that we have to bail out for this year,” Halkar says. “There’s not enough time to get everything that we need in and the way people have been hoarding food and other items really makes it a mess too.”
Organizers decided to pull the plug over the weekend. Local businesses that purchased booths for the event are being refunded or secured a spot for the 2021 breakfast.
“We didn’t really want to do this, but it was starting to get a little too close for comfort,” Halkar says. “Hopefully, things will be taken care of, and we’ll be back next year.”