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Good Eats for Lent

JERMYN, Pa. — It may have been cold with flurries coming down outside the Artisan Fire Company in Jermyn, but inside, the kitchen was sizzling hot. “...

JERMYN, Pa. -- It may have been cold with flurries coming down outside the Artisan Fire Company in Jermyn, but inside, the kitchen was sizzling hot.

"The community really steps up and helps out a lot," Bob Chase of the Artisan Fire Company said.  "We see everybody here, and it's fantastic."

350 pounds of potatoes went from a table inside the fire company, to a shredder, into a mixer, before being fried into potato pancakes. This has been a tradition on Ash Wednesday for the past three years in Lackawanna County, with all of the money going back to the fire company. Those in the area weren't going to miss out on year four.

"The potato pancakes are homemade," Paul Bechtoldt of Peckville said. "They're the best there are. We wait for this day all year long. I sit on Facebook and wait until they put their post up. As soon as we get home, we're going to enjoy."

From Jermyn, Newswatch 16 took a quick drive to Mayfield. At St. John's Russian Orthodox Cathedral, around 14,000 pierogies will be sold just today alone.

"They're homemade, and they're always delicious, and they're always fresh," Tom Jubinski of Dickson City said. "Whatever oil they use, it makes the best pierogies. Deep fried. I'm getting three dozen today. I just got probably a couple dozen two months ago. Every time they have a sale I'm here because they're great. I eat probably eight of them before I even get home. I eat them out of the bag like french fries."

St. John's Russian Orthodox Cathedral adds it's been selling pierogies for well over a century.

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