Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
IN SHORT SUPPLY
Doughy tradition casualty of pandemic
The coronavirus, it might be said, has taken a bite out of Fasnacht Day.
The pre-Lenten Pennsylvania Dutch tradition is Tuesday, and indications are that it’ll be harder to find hearty down-onthe-farm-style donuts in parts of Berks County.
Friedens United Church of Christ in Oley, a major outlet for fasnachts on Shrove Tuesday, has canceled its annual sale.
“There was a desire on the part of some of our people to make them,” said Rev. Tyson Frey, pastor. “But we’re shut down this year.”
All church activities, including the fasnacht and hoagie sales, have been canceled in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, he said.
The situation is pretty much the same at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Hamburg, which has had fasnacht sales for as long as anyone can remember.
“We’re not having a fasnacht sale this year,” said Kelly Zimmerman, church secretary. “We’ve been pretty much closed since December.”
St. John’s will resume in-person services on Ash Wednesday, when pastor Mark Jensen
officiates at a 7 p.m. service in the church. Ashes will also be given during a drive-thru service from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Cost-benefit analysis
The virus isn’t the only thing affecting the availability of fasnachts.
Even before the pandemic struck in mid-March, Reading’s Centre Park Historic District leadership decided to discontinue its Fasnacht Day fundraiser.
For five years, volunteers
rustled up more than 500 dozen fasnachts using Elizabeth Levan’s century-old recipe.
Eager patrons picked up the doughy delicacies by the dozen at the Inn at Centre Park, a Gothic Revival mansion built in 1877.
Michael Lauter, the historic district’s executive director, said the difficulty in recruiting volunteers for the demanding, labor-intensive process of making fasnachts contributed to the decision to discontinue the sale.
Demand for the donuts remained steady, he said, but had leveled off in recent years.
“It’s a lot of hard work,”
Lauter said. “The financial rewards did not match the work that went into it.”
Rolling in dough
Worry not, there’s no shortage of the fasnachts at Dutch-Maid Bakery store in Temple or its stand in Boscov’s Fairgrounds Farmers Market in Muhlenberg Township.
Actually, owner Dolores Hess points out, the bakery has been frying up fasnachts since January.
Demand is such that Hess has put on extra shifts Monday and Tuesday to ensure nobody is denied the opportunity to splurge in the dietary experience before the Lenten season begins.
In the same tradition as Mardi Gras, the Pennsylvania Dutch would feast on fasnachts before the 40 days of fasting that lead up to Easter.
At Dutch-Maid, customers can choose from fasnachts with granulated or powdered sugar. In Berks, however, many prefer their fasnachts plain with Turkey-brand syrup and butter.
Hess, who’s been making fasnachts for 30 years, has adapted a recipe from her grandmother, Edith Petree.
“I remember her making them on a coal stove,” Hess said. “There were pots of dough everywhere in her kitchen.”