WINFIELD, Pa. — As soon as you walk into the Union Township social hall, you're hit with an instant smell of ham. Volunteers are cooking for the Union Township Fire Company's 19th Dandelion Dinner.
"This is going to be the first year—we've actually done a dine-in since the pandemic, we had to stop in 2019, and we're looking to get a bunch of people to come in, finally sit down, it's a family-friendly event, sit down, socialize," said Benjamin Wetzel, president of the Union Township Fire Company.
Typically, 400 people come to the dinner. The Union Township Fire Company usually raises about $2,500 from the event. Volunteers have 18 hams, 40 gallons of dressing, 10 cases of dandelion, and 300 pounds of potatoes for the dinner.
"It's a Pennsylvania Dutch thing. Everybody around here grew up eating it. It's good home food cooking," said Wetzel.
"It's my family's dressing recipe, yes, takes lots of bacon, lots of eggs, vinegar, and sugar, and even some bacon grease, yeah, the good stuff," said Dorothy Weikel, one of the event's cooks.
The Dandelion Dinner is considered a kickoff to spring. Dorthy Weikel has been a cook for the Dandelion Dinner for 19 years. She says she's looking forward to seeing everyone who comes to the event again.
"I've been in the restaurant business my whole life, and people that come in here, most of them are my friends, and I just walk out of the kitchen, and I come out, and I talk to everybody, and that's the fun part."
The Dandelion Dinner is Saturday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Union Township social hall. Tickets are $12 dollars for adults and $6 for children ages six to 12. Children under 5 are free. The dinner is first come, first serve until it's sold out.