Sweet tradition hits 100 as volunteers craft candy eggs
CONSHOHOCKEN » With Easter several weeks away, candy was already making the news in confectionery circles — from disbelief that vegan truffles made by United Kingdombased Booja-Booja had outscored stalwarts like Lindt and Cadbury to win Good Housekeeping Institute’s annual Easter egg taste test to the discovery of a dead mouse in a bag of Ikea Easter marshmallows in Ireland.
Far from the headlines, a small contingent of local candy crafters was quietly turning out what fans maintain are the best Easter eggs around (and at $10 a pound, among the least expensive).
The annual fundraiser at St. Mark’s Church in Conshohocken is currently marking its 100th anniversary, and if the volunteers who turn out anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 pounds of candy each year have learned anything over the last century, it’s “Stay with what works,” says project CoChair Debby Rodenbaugh.
It doesn’t hurt that “there’s a lot of love in these eggs,” Rodenbaugh continues.
Lots of other good stuff as well. Visit the St. Mark’s community room/kitchen when the amateur sweetsmakers are cooking the eggs’ basic fondant filling, kneading it on marble slabs, shaping or coating the finished product in melted chocolate, and the scent of the mint, peanut butter and coconut that flavor the eggs is as obvious as the bonhomie of the workers.
The latter are nothing if not ecumenical. The St. Mark’s confectioners have always welcomed anyone interested in helping out, and that open invite means area Baptists, Catholics, Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians … even a freethinker or two have contributed to the effort over the years. Generations from the same families, too … among them, Rodenbaugh’s, whose relatives have been involved since the first eggs were rolled in 1918.
As the story goes, that’s when several St. Mark’s congregants gathered in one member’s kitchen and made candy eggs to raise money for what some say was a new church organ; others, a new heater. Longtime participants recall a time when large decorated eggs were the norm rather than today’s one- or two-biters. Others remember selling eggs door-to-door on roller skates and bicycles.
These days, door-to-door sales have gone the way of Fayette Street’s distinctive mansions, formal gardens and trolley runs. But St. Mark’s Easter eggs are an entrenched local tradition that has volunteers firing up their candy-making gear right after New Year’s. And by time most of the commercial world is focused on fancy Valentine’s Day sweets, these experienced amateurs are well onto the next candydriven holiday with Monday nights (6 to 8:30 p.m.) devoted to cooking, cutting and rolling out the candy’s fondant base; Wednesday nights (6 to 8:30 p.m.) to hand-coating the eggs in chocolate; and Friday mornings (9 to 11 a.m.) to packing and fulfilling orders.
According to Rodenbaugh, new volunteers are always welcome — including candy-making newbies — “volunteers are trained each night as we teach you — or discover — what job in the candy-making process fits you best.”
The St. Mark’s spokesman adds Easter egg orders — $10 a pound (payable by cash or check) — may be placed by telephone 610-825-3021 or in person at St. Mark’s, 508 Harry St., on Monday and Wednesday evenings. Details for online ordering and pickup times are posted at stmarksconshy.org and the St. Mark’s Facebook page. All eggs must be preordered, and at press time, orders received after Feb. 23 were being filled on a “firstcome, first-served” basis.
Still wide open are reservations for the special inhouse banquet St. Mark’s members have scheduled — April 20 at 6 p.m. — to celebrate their century of Easter eggs.
“The public is invited,” Rodenbaugh says. “We’ve been making Easter eggs for a long time, and [the project] wouldn’t have been nearly as successful as it’s been without the support of the community, so we want everyone to feel welcome … to be part of this. Tickets are $10 (for reservations, call 610-828-0581), and we’re still in the planning stages, but it should be a nice time.”