SIMPSON, Pa. — Employees at Oprisko Kielbasa are in the final stretch of making kielbasi for Easter gatherings.
Owner David Rupp says this is one of the biggest holidays for the business.
He and his employees start the preparations six weeks in advance because of the high demand.
"With kielbasi, there's a lot of little details. You've got to marinate it for the certain amount of time. Then we've go to stuff it, and we still hand-tie here. We hand crank, about 6,000 pounds for the big holidays," Rupp said.
There was a steady flow of customers through the door of Oprisko's on a Thursday afternoon.
Ed Pienta was one of those people, buying several rings of kielbasi for Sunday.
"It's a Polish tradition for us to have a family gathering on Christmas and Easter, and I found these guys couple of years ago, and it's worth the trip," he said.
Pienta didn't mind the 45-minute drive from Wilkes-Barre to make sure he got enough of his favorite kielbasi before the weekend.
"It worked out good today. I was in the area, so it reminded me to get up here early," he explained.
Rupp says they didn't sell as much kielbasi during the pandemic compared to previous years, but he says it's apparent this year, more people are getting back to holiday gatherings.
"We're selling about 400 to 500 pounds easily a day. I expect by tomorrow we'll be selling probably close to 1000 pounds for the next Friday and Saturday," he said.
If you haven't gotten your kielbasa yet for your Easter gathering, you still have time. Oprisko's will be open until 6 p.m. on Saturday.
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