MANSFIELD – The smell of fresh-baked bread wafted through the basement of St. Peter Parish on Monday afternoon.
Everything at the annual parish bake sale is made from scratch and volunteers spend nearly a month preparing.
The parish at 60 S. Mulberry St. will host its annual Easter Bake Sale on Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Proceeds from the Easter Bake Sale go toward purchasing wine, hosts and other liturgical items the church uses throughout the year.
On Tuesday, there will also be an Easter Bake dine-in lunch from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., with fresh cabbage rolls, broccoli and cheese soup, sloppy joes and hot dogs on the menu.
Visitors can pay with cash or check.
Along with the companion event, which occurs during Christmas, the Easter Bake Sale is billed as one of the largest in the region. The event features thousands of handmade baked goods, sweet treats and hardy dishes.
“It’s got a reputation. It’s a longstanding tradition in a community that we’re very proud of, because we’ve built a good reputation for having nothing but the best food,” said Eileen Tomsich, who has volunteered with the sale for about 20 years.
Tomsich said many of the recipes used for the bake sale were passed down by parishioners and their families.
“These are old world recipes,” she said. “Some are from Slovenia. Some are from Poland or Ukraine.”
More than 200 volunteers lend their time and efforts to making the sale a success. Dozens have been hard at work in the St. Peter’s school kitchen for weeks preparing favorites like cabbage rolls, potica, braided breads and butter rings.
This year, fan favorites are also returning, including hundreds of chocolate candies, potato and egg salads.
“Many of them could not help the last couple of years because of the pandemic, but lots of familiar faces are back to help make this event a success,” said coordinator Ann Brown.
Brown has been helping out with the sale for almost 50 years. She’s served as coordinator for the last three decades.
“Ann had the dough ready for them when they got here at eight o’clock this morning,” Tomsich said Monday morning. “They started rolling it out, shaking it, braiding it.”
Brown said she takes about two months off after the Easter Bake sale, then begins preparations for next year.
After three decades of leading the charge, she’s still going strong. She said her favorite part of it all is the people she works alongside.
“I miss them so much when it’s over,” she said. “The camaraderie, the kindness of the people, the generosity, the way they give of themselves, stay longer than they feel like — I am motivated and inspired by the people that work with me.”
“This is a tremendous amount of work,” she added. “This is 12-hour days sometimes.”
Brown isn’t the only one who enjoys the sense of community the bake sale provides.
“You get to know each other. You laugh together. We just have a wonderful time,” Tomsich said.
“We have a lady who comes from Delaware. She’s not even a member of St. Peter’s Church,” she added. “She came one time with a friend. The friend has moved on. She keeps driving up here. She has so much fun with all of us down here, cutting and chopping and cooking and talking and laughing.”
