The town of Ohiopyle has a population of fewer than 100 residents, but when the weather is nice, the little village welcomes thousands each weekend, and members of the Ohiopyle-Stewart Volunteer Fire Department are hoping for clear skies for their annual Fall Buckwheat and Pancake Supper that will be held next weekend.
“If the weather is nice we will see about 5,000 people come through for the dinner,” OSVFD past president Dale Leonard said of the annual dinner. “Last year we had 4,600 who came and paid.”
The buckwheat event became an annual fundraiser in 1947, and the department now hosts two each year, one in the spring and one in the fall.
The difference in the two dinners is that freshly pressed apple cider is offered on the fall menu.
“We get a truckload of apples and bring them here,” said Sam Dean of the department.
Dean is also known as the “Ciderman” as it is he who mans the antique press for the weekend.
“Last year we sold out,” Dean said of the cider that is made from apples from a local farm outside of Uniontown. “We sell the cider in half gallons and gallons, and people really love it.”
The buckwheat and pancake supper will include sweet pickles, fried potatoes, fresh sausage, your choice of buckwheat or regular pancakes, and beverages.
Volunteers begin preparing for the meals weeks in advance, setting up the dining areas and preparing the food and buckwheat batter.
“It takes two weeks just to get the tables ready and the rooms ready,” OSVFD ladies auxiliary member Correna Smithburger said of the dinner that is held in the social hall of the OSVFD and the Ohiopyle Community Center one block away, which offers additional seating. “It's a lot of work, and by the end of the weekend everyone is exhausted.”
OSVFD Ladies auxiliary member Sue Marietta said that the volunteers start food preparation on items such as the fried potatoes days before the event.
“We start to get the potatoes ready on Wednesday, then work on them all day Thursday,” Marietta said of the hundreds of pounds of potatoes that are cooked, adding that all of the volunteers know exactly what to do and when to do it. “Everyone has a station, and that is what they do.”
The buckwheats are the old-fashioned kind that takes days to prepare.
“We will have 30 pots full of buckwheat batter,” Leonard said.
The large kitchen has an extended griddle area that will be covered with simmering cakes for the event, and the volunteers then line up to get the meals that are assembled and served.
“We hand-serve each and every meal,” Smithburger said. “This is not a buffet but a nice sit-down meal.”
The meal has become a tradition for many in the area, some who travel distances just to come and enjoy the dinner.
“People come year after year,” Smithburger said, adding that there are also generations of families who pitch in to help. “We have grandmothers with daughters and granddaughters helping out side by side. It's pretty amazing.”
The buckwheat dinners are the department's biggest fundraisers, and the group depends on the proceeds to cover operational expenses.
Smithburger, whose husband Michael Smithburger is chief of the OSVFD, said that they rely on the monies raised as the department does not receive outside funding other then occasional grants that they can use for equipment.
“We do not receive any funding from the DCNR although a high percentage of our calls are park-related,” Smithburger said of the calls that are within the Ohiopyle State park boundaries “We need the funding from the dinners to operate.”
With the event planned for the second week in October, leaf watchers may wonder up to the mountains to enjoy the splendor of Mother Nature, and the members of the OSVFD hopes they venture into their fundraiser.
“It really depends on the weather,” Leonard said. “If it's nice there will be a line down the street and if it rains, they will still come but the nicer the weather, the better.”
Cost for the meal is $8.50 for adults and $4.50 for children. Meals are available for takeout.
The buckwheat and pancake dinner will be offered from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 11.
Marilyn Forbes is a contributing writer for Trib Total Media.
