Mother’s Day is not just a Hallmark holiday anymore.

Offspring were out in full force to honor foothills moms on Sunday, particularly when the menu promised breakfast without the dishwashing.

After all, who better to honor on a special day than the one who gave them life?

In Meadow Vista, the lines were long for one of the best-kept secrets in the area — a free Mother’s Day pancake breakfast for moms and $1 for the rest of her entourage.

Erv Morgenthal, ex-president of breakfast sponsor the Meadow Vista Lions, was having fun asking children in line whether they’d wished their mother ‘Happy Mother’s Day’ and found a few who said it had slipped their minds — even with all the hoopla at the breakfast.

A sheepish Logan Bertz, 10, admitted to Morgenthal that he had forgotten and then quickly wished his mom a Happy Mother’s Day.

Patti Bertz reciprocated with a motherly hug. The co-owner of Meadow Vista’s Café Vista was accompanied by her husband, two daughters and Logan. Café Vista is closed on Sundays, so Bertz had the opportunity to turn the tables on her normal workday preparing breakfasts at the eatery.

“Usually I’m cooking breakfast for the town, and this morning the town gets to cook breakfast for us,” Bertz said.

It doesn’t take much to draw a crowd of pancake-craving Meadow Vista moms to Sierra Hills School on Mother’s Day. Morgenthal said that 750 people partook last Mother’s Day and it looked as if that number would be eclipsed this year. The Lions post one sign and issue a notice in Meadow Vista school newsletters. That’s it.

For Meadow Vistans, it was the place to be Mother’s Day morning.

“I wouldn’t have missed it for anything,” said 79-year-old mother of four, Ruth Verrue. “I don’t have to cook.”

Each mother got a carnation as well as a hearty meal cooked by the Auburn Jeep Club.

Down the hill at Sweetpeas restaurant near the Bowman exit, moms and their families were also lining up for a meal. Inside, tables were filled with Mother’s Day celebrants tucking away a special menu. Omelettes seemed to be the most popular order of the day, said manager Casey Griggs.

“It’s the busiest day of the year,” Griggs said. “And there will be a line until 3 p.m.”

Other restaurants specializing in morning fare were also welcoming large Mother’s Day crowds.

At Awful Annie’s in Old Town Auburn, co-owner Jai Baker also reported being in the midst of her eatery’s busiest day of the year. Even before opening, 30 people were lined up and spilling onto the sidewalk. They kept on arriving throughout the day, attracted by a Mother’s Day menu that promised champagne as well as a list of special menu items ranging from gold rush crepes to omelettes to a chorizo scramble.

“It’s a fun day for us as well as the customers,” Baker said. “A lot of the people who work here asked to work today.”

The Journal’s Gus Thomson can be reached at gust@goldcountrymedia.com.