{"id":215248,"date":"2026-06-10T04:59:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T04:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/215248\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T04:59:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T04:59:12","slug":"festivals-throughout-nepa-bring-varied-food-and-drink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/215248\/","title":{"rendered":"Festivals throughout NEPA bring varied food and drink"},"content":{"rendered":"

Be ready to \u201cJedz!\u201d \u201cMangia, mangia!\u201d \u201cEss ess!\u201d and \u201cSalute!\u201d at the many food and drink festivals this summer around the region. Some come with a side serving of patriotism, music and even pro wrestling.<\/p>\n

Luzerne County<\/p>\n

The Edwardsville Pierogi Festival is Friday and Saturday. Mr. Pierogi and Mrs. Butter are getting their red, white and blue accessories ready, vendors are preparing for an America250 decorating contest and patriotic pierogi shirts are being stacked for sale.<\/p>\n

Pierogies are as American as hot dogs and apple pie, said Jackie Moran, president of the Edwardsville Hometown Committee. The Eastern European immigrants who helped build the country brought their recipes through Ellis Island with them, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey carried those traditions on and it\u2019s been a part of our heritage and a part of our American experience,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The festival opens at noon on Friday, punctuated by fireworks at dusk before closing at 10 p.m.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the festival is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The parade is at 11 a.m. and marchers have been asked to include some red, white and blue. The parade starts at Jackson Street and leads to the festival grounds in Hopkins Park on High Street.<\/p>\n

The pierogi cook-off is at 2 p.m. on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Mrs. Fritz\u2019s Homemade of Hanover Township won the professional division last year and returns to defend the title.<\/p>\n

The festival is more than pierogies. There are rides, dozens of vendors of all kinds and music.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in Luzerne County, preparations are underway for the Dallas Rotary Wine & Brew Fest on June 27 at the Luzerne County Fairgrounds, the Swoyersville Wing Fling on July 25-26, the Plymouth Kielbasa Festival on Aug. 7-8 and the Pittston Tomato Festival on Aug. 20-23.<\/p>\n

Wine and beer events usually have admission fees, with a nominal fee for people identified as designated drivers.<\/p>\n

\"Trinity<\/p>\n

Trinity Miller, of Pittston, dresses as a pizza slice for the Pittston Tomato Festival 5K Walk on Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025. BILL TARUTIS \/ CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER\n<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A porketta sandwich is assembled by a UNICO Scranton worker at La Festa Italiana in Scranton on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025. (JASON ARDAN \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Roy<\/p>\n

Roy Propes, of Lake Ariel, grills two kielbasa rings at a prevoppis the stand operated by Park Market, Nanticoke, at a previous Plymouth Kielbasa Festival. (THE CITIZENS\u2019 VOICE FILE)\n<\/p>\n

\"Attendees<\/p>\n

Attendees and vendors fill Main St. in Plymouth during the Kielbasa Festival on Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025. (JASON ARDAN \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Chris<\/p>\n

Chris Gallagher of Carmella\u2019s packs an order of sweets during the Plymouth Kielbasa Festival on Friday, Aug. 8, 2025. (JASON ARDAN \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Thousands<\/p>\n

Thousands of people walk around Courthouse Square at La Festa Italiana in Scranton on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025. (JASON ARDAN \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Waverly Wine Fest is returning. CHRISTOPHER DOLAN \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER\n<\/p>\n

\"Caleiv<\/p>\n

Caleiv Jean will perform at the Jewish Food Festival (COURTESY OF CALEIV JEAN)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 8<\/p>\n

Trinity Miller, of Pittston, dresses as a pizza slice for the Pittston Tomato Festival 5K Walk on Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025. BILL TARUTIS \/ CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a>
\nSchuylkill County<\/p>\n

In Pottsville, the 11th annual Schuylkill County Brew Fest is on Saturday, July 25, from 2 to 5:30 p.m. Yuengling, the beer that put Pottsville on the map, will be available but take a back seat.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get to try a variety of different breweries that you probably wouldn\u2019t necessarily get to go to, because they\u2019re from all over the state,\u201d said organizer Tyler Budwash, co-owner of Pilger Ruh Brewing and owner and operator of Puff\u2019s Promotions \u201cThere\u2019s a homebrew competition; you have a ton of great food available. And then there\u2019s live professional wrestling and live music, so it\u2019s a little bit of a cosmic gumbo of everything involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Budwash will be one of the wrestlers in matches he described as \u201cpredetermined, not fake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tickets are on sale now and sales will be capped at around 1,000. Advance tickets are sold at http:\/\/bigtickets.com\/events\/cousindaveent<\/a>, with a VIP option for early entry. It is an over-21 event, but not all beer and wine festivals are. It\u2019s worth checking in advance.<\/p>\n

Switch to wine on Sept. 6, with the 17th Schuylkill County Wine Festival in Hegins Twp., with an America250 theme for its decorating contest.<\/p>\n

Lackawanna County<\/p>\n

The Jewish Food Festival is in Nay Aug Park, Scranton, from June 28-July 1. The food is kosher and the slogan is \u201cfood that survived for thousands of years for a reason.\u201d The menu will include knish, brisket, babka, shawarma, schnitzel, ribs, pastrami, falafel and stuffed cabbage.<\/p>\n

The Waverly Wine Fest is Saturday, Aug. 8, on the lawn of the Waverly Community House. It will have an America250 flair with music by the Doug Smith Dixieland Band. It is a 21-plus event.<\/p>\n

The 50th La Festa Italiana will surround Courthouse Square in Scranton on Labor Day weekend, Sept. 4-7. The Scranton Chapter of UNICO National makes the festival\u2019s signature porketta sandwich.\u00a0The locally procured pork loin is wrapped around a seasoning mix and served with roasting juices on a National Bakery hard roll. That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou wouldn\u2019t put eyelashes on the Mona Lisa, you\u2019re not going to put garnishes on our porketta sandwiches,\u201d UNICO volunteer Mike Linko said last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Be ready to \u201cJedz!\u201d \u201cMangia, mangia!\u201d \u201cEss ess!\u201d and \u201cSalute!\u201d at the many food and drink festivals this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[4998,4433,28471,1681,6520,201,182,803,1213,708,28,4961,435,231,178,180,179,7645,289,181,729,1053],"class_list":["post-215248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-township","tag-edwardsville","tag-entertainment","tag-hazleton","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-luzerne-county","tag-music-and-concerts","tag-outdoors","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pottsville","tag-restaurants-food-and-drink","tag-schuylkill-county","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-swoyersville","tag-things-to-do","tag-top-stories-stt","tag-uncategorized","tag-waverly-township"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}