It’s been 31 years since Glenn Schlosser, a member of Paddletown St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Etters and local commercial artist, was asked to make a sign for a neighboring community Apple Festival. Glenn saw a great fundraising opportunity for his church and without hesitation, or consulting fellow church members, agreed to create the sign on the condition that a vendor booth would be available for St. Paul’s church. So the Paddletown Apple Dumpling Gang was born!
In those early years, everything from peeling, preparing the dough and wrapping the apples was done by hand. The gang began preparing the dumplings on Wednesday and worked around the clock to finish by noon the Friday before the festival. Many hands were involved from dumpling preparation to providing meals and relief for the many preparers.
Beginning small, over the years the Apple Dumpling Gang grew production into 5,000 dumplings. Church members share that through these years of working side-by-side a deep sense of community has grown as well as countless mentoring relationships and friendships.
After years of hand preparation, production was enhanced by purchasing pre-cored and peeled apples. Glenn’s son-in-law, Jeff Bertolette, built a dough-roller to speed up the process.
A leap of faith was taken last year as the Apple Dumpling Gang discerned God’s lead to take a new direction utilizing the Church’s beautiful grounds and expanding their endeavor into a Fall Festival. Susan Bertolette described the first Apple Dumpling Fall Festival as, “An amazing day!” God provided perfect weather and by 11 a.m., 1,500 apple dumplings were sold. In addition to food stands, the festival offered live music, scarecrow and pumpkin decorating for kids, and vendors of all kinds.
What began as one man’s vision for a fundraising opportunity God has grown into a “hidden treasure”. While apple dumplings have become the trademark for Paddletown St. Paul’s UMC, the hidden treasures of fellowship, discipleship, and sense of community are countless.
Susan concludes, “I cannot describe what this festival brings to Paddletown Church. We are small but mighty. God provides the vision and the amazing congregation makes it happen.”
Don’t miss experiencing the Apple Dumpling Fall Festival on Saturday, September 22, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Paddletown St. Paul’s UMC located at 355 Church Road, Etters (Goldsboro) Pa.
A warm dumpling topped with ice cream or milk, great fellowship, and food for the soul … priceless!
For more information about Paddletown St. Paul’s UMC visit www.pspumc.com
