(mostly for the benefit of our newer members-we oldies remember some of these things)...about how our
club started to make and sell funnel cakes. More than 30 years ago, when we still met for Monday evening
dinners at the Ambridge Country Club, then member and perennial song leader, “Big Joe” Rosenberger,
(we sang several songs at every meeting and had lot’s of fun doing it), suggested that we start to do funnel
cakes as a fundraiser. For years, we had been packaging apples and selling them but they got too expensive
and the profit was no longer there.
Joe and his wife went to Manheim, PA, quite often and saw the Pennsylvania Dutch folks doing their funnel
cakes. His idea caught on and he brought back cases of two pound bags of Funnel Cake Powder mix for us
to use. Nationality Days was our first venture and we used a tent and three borrowed tabletop deep fryers
(the kind you can make French Fries in at home). As you can imagine, production was rather slow.
For the following year it was decided that we needed a booth of some kind. Under the planning and
direction of our member, Jerry Steinmetz, we constructed, inside a building at Ohio Valley Lumber Co.
(thanks to club members, Jim Schell, Sr., and his son, Bill Schell), a wooden booth in which we could do
our Funnel Cakes. It was designed so that we could put it together and then take it apart, after the event, for
storage. We did that one time and realized that it way too much work. For the next year we put wheels on it
and pulled it away instead of hauling it away in pieces.
We used that for several years and then Whitey Mikush and several others, including Phil Trapold, came
up with the idea of getting a custom aluminum trailer built (the one we still have). When that was completed
and in our hands we decided to give the wooden booth/trailer to Crime Solvers of Beaver County. They
were very grateful and used it at events for a number of years.
The tabletop fryers went away when Whitey stepped in and came across the bigger, much deeper ones that
we used for many years. Whitey also found that we could get ready-made, powdered Funnel Cake mix, in
50 pound bags, locally. No more two pound bags of mix or trips down East.
As we all know, we are still making Funnel Cakes at six or more events every year but now you know the
rest of the story as to how this all came about.
club started to make and sell funnel cakes. More than 30 years ago, when we still met for Monday evening
dinners at the Ambridge Country Club, then member and perennial song leader, “Big Joe” Rosenberger,
(we sang several songs at every meeting and had lot’s of fun doing it), suggested that we start to do funnel
cakes as a fundraiser. For years, we had been packaging apples and selling them but they got too expensive
and the profit was no longer there.
Joe and his wife went to Manheim, PA, quite often and saw the Pennsylvania Dutch folks doing their funnel
cakes. His idea caught on and he brought back cases of two pound bags of Funnel Cake Powder mix for us
to use. Nationality Days was our first venture and we used a tent and three borrowed tabletop deep fryers
(the kind you can make French Fries in at home). As you can imagine, production was rather slow.
For the following year it was decided that we needed a booth of some kind. Under the planning and
direction of our member, Jerry Steinmetz, we constructed, inside a building at Ohio Valley Lumber Co.
(thanks to club members, Jim Schell, Sr., and his son, Bill Schell), a wooden booth in which we could do
our Funnel Cakes. It was designed so that we could put it together and then take it apart, after the event, for
storage. We did that one time and realized that it way too much work. For the next year we put wheels on it
and pulled it away instead of hauling it away in pieces.
We used that for several years and then Whitey Mikush and several others, including Phil Trapold, came
up with the idea of getting a custom aluminum trailer built (the one we still have). When that was completed
and in our hands we decided to give the wooden booth/trailer to Crime Solvers of Beaver County. They
were very grateful and used it at events for a number of years.
The tabletop fryers went away when Whitey stepped in and came across the bigger, much deeper ones that
we used for many years. Whitey also found that we could get ready-made, powdered Funnel Cake mix, in
50 pound bags, locally. No more two pound bags of mix or trips down East.
As we all know, we are still making Funnel Cakes at six or more events every year but now you know the
rest of the story as to how this all came about.
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