St. Peter's Parish annual giant Easter Bake Sale more than food, chocolate
The St. Peter's Parish annual Easter Bake Sale, billed as one of the largest in Ohio, spans more than 60 years featuring traditional ethnic recipes.
The bake sale is scheduled for Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the St. Peter's Church basement at 64 S. Mulberry St. Lunch will be served 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday.
Volunteers once again prepared more than 3,000 cabbage rolls, hundreds of potica rolls, braided breads and butter rings along with chocolate candies, potato and egg salads and various ethnic and baked goods.
Ann Brown, a parishioner and the bake sale's longtime driving force, said there is a huge amount of chocolate candy this year.
"Everybody feels very happy to be here, to do it," she said. "I also feel it makes them healthier not only mentally and spiritually, but physically — because this is a lot of work," she said.
"We have a lot of pierogi," she said.
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Bill Johnson, director of liturgy and music at Mansfield St. Peter's Parish, has been the music director for 20 years.
"In all that time I’ve never missed an Easter bake sale. One of the things I most enjoy about it is the fellowship and gathering of parishioners and other friends. It’s great to see everyone and catch up with them. But the best thing about the bake sale, of course, is the food," Johnson said.
"Cabbage rolls, poticas, butter rings, chocolates, egg salad, cabbage and noodles, cookies, hard-boiled Easter eggs, potato salad and lots of other fun Easter foods. I am a big fan of the cabbage rolls and the poticas and the chocolates and egg salad and a bunch of other stuff," he said.
"But my absolute favorite of all is the potato salad. The recipe they use is exactly the same as my late mother’s, grandmother’s and great aunt’s recipe. My great aunt’s husband, my Uncle Charlie Kaufman, was the sheriff of Richland County in the early 1920s and in those days the sheriff and his family lived on the top floor of the jail and his wife cooked for the inmates," Johnson said.
"There’s no doubt that she made potato salad to feed the inmates. So Aunt Grace’s potato salad has a long history in my family and in Richland County. But most importantly, it’s the taste that reminds me so much of being a little kid here in Mansfield and of the many family traditions and gatherings we celebrated up here with Aunt Grace and my grandmother and my mom. I miss all of them terribly, and the food from the bake sale, especially potato salad, is always so delicious and so consoling for me," he said.
Retired Mansfield police Sgt. Jan Wendling, a St. Peter's parishioner, said "I love the food that they put out everything that they sell is great."
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"I like the poticas and the pigs in the blanket," he said. "Their potato and macaroni salad are great, too. Plus, all the Easter stuff. I go every year."
Proceeds go toward purchasing wine, hosts and other sacramental items used by the church.
Brown said the events raise much-needed funds for the church and school, but the camaraderie among volunteers is what it's all about, bringing people together for something everyone can do.
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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Mansfield St. Peter's annual bake sale among largest in Ohio
