Rise and shine,  flapjack freaks.

You have a narrow, three-hour window in which to score some free pancakes, and the clock starts ticking at 6 this morning. So get those shoes on now and head to the new IHOP in Columbia Heights.

To celebrate the opening of its 1,500th restaurant, IHOP is giving the first 1,500 people at the Columbia Heights eatery a free short stack of buttermilk pancakes (or a certificate for them). And if free flapjacks aren’t enough to stir you out of bed this morning, how about this: Some pastry chefs plan to build one of Washington’s most famous monuments out of pancakes, with an assist from students enrolled in the culinary program at Bell Multicultural High School.

Here’s the rest of the day’s schedule:

6-9 a.m.:Get your free flapjack certificates

6 a.m.-3 p.m.: Pancake monument under construction

9 a.m.: Ribbon cutting with dignitaries, including Councilmember Jim Graham, Council Chairman-elect Kwame Brown, IHOP President Jean Birch, and the owners of the local franchise group.

6:30-10:30 a.m.: Live entertainment

The IHOP is located at DC USA, 3100 14^th St. NW

Photo by juliejigsaw via Flickr Creative Commons, Attribution License