BEAVERTOWN -- Tomorrow is the day before Ash Wednesday, and many call it "Donut Day" because that's the day you "feast" before the season of Lent begins.
Whether you like your donuts plain, or with sugar, many people consider it good luck to eat one or more on Fat Tuesday! These folks at the Beavertown Rescue Hose Company near Middleburg have plenty of donuts to go around! In fact, these volunteers have been making the sweet treats for Fat Tuesday for 20 years!
"We started out with only one donut machine and then we got another one so we could do twice as many. Now we're doing a lot more than when we started," Kate Saylor said.
About 40 volunteers at the Beavertown Rescue Hose Company work in shifts to make around 800 dozen donuts. That's more than 9,000 donuts.
"I'm trying to keep the donuts from falling on top of each other when they're coming out of the machine," Seneca Kratzer said.
"It's hard work. Busy work, but we enjoy it," Saylor said.
550 dozen donuts were preordered, and the group made about 200 dozen extra for the walk-in customers. They say all of them will be gone by Fat Tuesday.
"They'll all be gone. Then somebody will come in and say, oh no they're all," Jean Rheam said.
Popeye Saylor has been involved with the donut making since the fire company started the fundraiser 20 years ago. It brings in about $3,000 a year. Saylor says Beavertown Rescue Hose Company is well-known for its donuts.
"They come from Selinsgrove, Lewistown, Mifflinburg, all around here," Popeye Saylor said.
Popeye says sometimes the volunteers taste-test the broken donuts.
"How many do you eat while you're making them? Four. Just four? That's it," Popeye said.
Donuts can be picked up at the fire company near Middleburg.