SHENANDOAH, Pa. -- On a day when temperatures are in the 20s in Shenandoah, what are all these people doing outside? One word: kielbasa.
What happens if you don't come home with kielbasa during the holidays?
"Don't come home. Don't come home. There will be a lot of angry people... with clubs,” John Tobinus of Pottstown said.
And many others who stood in line outside Kowalonek's Kielbasy shop in Shenandoah said the same thing. When it's Christmas time, you better deliver … or else.
"It's not Christmas without it. You have to come get it, and I have orders from Charlotte, North Carolina. My son-in-law wants Kowalonek’s kielbasa. I'm from Shenandoah and live in Reading right now. We always make a kielbasa run,” Joyce Alshefski of Reading said.
And Kowalonek's benefits from that demand. Some customers waited for more than an hour for their orders. And inside, it was absolute madness.
"We're just really lucky. We run like a well-oiled machine here. It's always our goal to not skip a beat, and we do our best for that to happen day in and day out. For these people to pick us year after year and use our product and put it on their table with their family, it's awesome. We love it,” Jessica Hannis said.
What is it about the tradition that keeps people coming back?
"I think it's the quality of the meat. And we get to stop for lunch and have a couple beers on the way home,” Carl Haberstroh of the Lehigh Valley said.
A day well spent and a holiday with little drama because after all, there will be kielbasa on the table.