Berks fire company's annual fastnacht sale still a big draw
Feb. 18—It may be a dying tradition, but as long as people like Joy Boyer are around, Mount Penn Fire Company's annual fasnacht sale will endure.
"I put it in my calendar every year because they're the best in Pennsylvania, they really are," the Exeter Township resident said Saturday morning after buying a dozen of the heavy, yeast-raised potato doughnuts. "My husband teased me because I'm so excited about the fasnacht sale."
A Pennsylvania Dutch and Berks County tradition, fasnachts are typically prepared on Fat Tuesday just before the start of Lenten season — the 40 days of prayer, fasting and almsgiving leading to Easter-begins this week with Ash Wednesday.
Mount Penn Fire Company's fasnacht sale, now in its 55th year, is held the Saturday and Sunday prior to Fat Tuesday.
It's a fundraiser for the fire company, Fire Chief John Theodossiou said, but it's much more than that.
As a fundraiser, it's not what it used to be.
Years ago, the fire company would sell 2,500-dozen fasnachts over a weekend. The fasnachts are made at a commercial bakery according to the traditional Mount Penn recipe.
"People come from all over the county to get them," Theodossiou said.
This year's order was less than half that high-water mark.
"The tradition from what it was has started to go by the wayside," the chief said.
Still, fasnachts were going fast at the fire station, with 600 of the 1,000-dozen sold within the first two hours.
Even if it would sell 10,000 dozen," Theodossiou pointed out, it wouldn't generate enough funds to buy a single piece of apparatus for the station. Volunteer fire companies like Mount Penn can no longer raise, through fundraisers alone, the amount of money it takes to operate and rely on contributions from the local governments they serve as well as state grants.
"It's something the community looks forward to," Theodossiou said of the sale. "It's kind of a community thing we do once a year."
Like Boyer, Reiffton resident Bobby Keller is one of those who gets excited as the fasnacht sale nears. He walked out of the fire station with a dozen and a half.
The event also fosters camaraderie in the firehouse as it brings together all of the volunteer personnel, working shoulder-to-shoulder, bagging the doughnuts on a Friday night and selling them throughout the weekend — from the fire station and from a truck at the CVS lot at 23rd Street and Perkiomen Avenue.
Mike and Carrieann Anderson of Shillington were first-timer fasnacht buyers. Mike's co-worker who is a Mount Penn firefighter told him about it and he wanted to show his support.
The Andersons brought their daughter Victoria, 8, to the station Saturday morning where the family was given a tour of the fire station by Captain Rick Lombardo after buying a bag of fasnachts.
The sale continues today (Sunday) if there's enough product left. Check Mount Penn Fire Company's Facebook page for updates.
