Members of Christ Episcopal Church are buttering their skillets for the annual Shrove Tuesday pancake supper.

If you go

Christ Episcopal Church’s annual Shrove Tuesday pancake supper will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the church on Main Street. Tickets are $6 for adults and $3.50 for children at the door. Call 601-218-4556 or 601-638-5899 for more information.

“It’s not just Episcopalians. It’s people from everywhere,” said Inez Ehrgott, chairman of the event. “Everyone wants to celebrate Fat Tuesday.”

This year’s event is set for 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the church on Main Street.

“It’s a fun night,” Ehrgott said. “At the end, you’re exhausted, but it’s fun. You see so many friends.”

Deloris Terrell, a decorator for the event, said many memories of the 171-year-old church are shared during the feast.

“It has weathered the Civil War, the tornado (of 1953), the ups and downs of Vicksburg — and has remained,” Terrell said. “I think the pancake supper celebrates that.”

Mardi Gras, the feasting and fun during the weeks leading up to Ash Wednesday, is widely associated with eating rich foods made with eggs, sugar and butter — pancakes.

“It (Fat Tuesday) used to be known as Pancake Tuesday way back when,” said Ehrgott.

On the menu at Christ Church will be pancakes and sausage at $6 for adults and $3.50 for children, and dine-in and takeout are available.

“(The price) has not gone up like everything else,” Ehrgott said. “Most of the food is donated through the church. All the money that we take in goes to outreach in Vicksburg as well as elsewhere.”

Shrove Tuesday is named for the shriving, or repenting, English Christians were expected to do before receiving forgiveness before the 47 days of Lent.

Contact Tish Butts at tbutts@vicksburgpost.com