For Ann Goodman, there’s always a Saturday in late February or early March when she makes it a priority to go to the Mount Penn Fire Company with cash in hand.
That’s when the volunteer fire company holds its annual fasnacht sale.
“They make the best,” said Goodman, a resident of the borough. “I don’t know why. It’s just how they make them fresh. Once a year you just hope you get here before they’re out.”
She’s not alone in her assessment of the quality of the fasnachts that have been sold from the engine room of the fire station on Grant Avenue for nearly 60 years.
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.
“If you’re from Berks County, you’ve got to have fasnachts,” said Sharon Wentzel of Sinking Spring.
Wentzel traveled across town to get what she considers the best fasnachts in Berks.
“I’ve been buying them at other places, but these are the best,” she said.
Wentzel once tried to make fasnachts herself. She thought it would be a good idea to let the dough rise in the warmth of her bathroom.
To make a long story short, the yeast went wild and the dough expanded like something out of “The Blob.”
“It’s better to let somebody else do it,” she said.
They’re fasnachts aren’t actually made at the fire company, but no one seems to care. They’re made at a commercial bakery using the traditional Mount Penn recipe.
The sale is a nice fundraiser for the fire company, said Tim Waldman, fire chief emeritus, who has been helping out at every sale since 1989.
It also a tradition. People literally put it on their calendars.
“If we stopped, people would string us up,” Waldman said. “We start getting calls as early as Christmas: ‘Are you selling fasnachts this year?’”
Years ago, a local radio station would conduct a taste-testing contest, sampling fasnachts sold by churches and fire companies, and Mount Penn’s consistently won, said Rick Lombardo, Mount Penn assistant fire chief.
Back then, Mount Penn Fire Company would sell 2,500-dozen fasnachts over a weekend. But to order that many dozen in advance required a lot of extra man hours on the back end.
For years, firefighters would sell the leftover stock from the triangle at 23rd Street and Carsonia Avenue. Whatever didn’t sell would eat into the profits.
“We’re sticking with 1,000 dozen and when they’re gone, they’re gone,” he said.
That usually means the fasnachts go fast, real fast.
Saturday first 600 dozen went out the door within the first two hours of the sale.
The sale continues Sunday if supplies last. Check Mount Penn Fire Company’s Facebook page for updates.
Source: Berkshire mont
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