A Pancake Day Tradition Continues With Collins

Colton and Morgan Bartel, center, display the engraved silver tray that will be presented to the winner of the Liberal leg of the International Pancake Day Race Feb.12. Pictured with them are Pancake Day General Chairman Gary Classen, far left; and race chair Ronna Stump, far right. Olney’s winner receives an identical engraved tray as a gift from Liberal each year. Colton and Morgan, owners of Collins Diamond Jewelers, donated both trays as well as the tiara for the Liberal race winner.
Colton and his wife, Morgan, are now running the local store, while Colton’s parents, Audie and Karla, have opened a second location in Corpus Christi, Texas. The younger Bartels are thrilled to carry on the family tradition.
“It’s an honor to get to do it,” Colton said. “Not many family businesses get to do something like this on an international level, so providing the trays for here and England is pretty cool.”
Colton’s parents, Audie and Karla, donated the engraved silver trays and winner’s tiara for more than two decades, but the store’s involvement dates back even longer, to the 1960s.
“It’s our way of celebrating Pancake Day,” Morgan added.