Hempfield's St. Emma Monastery continues food-fair tradition started during pandemic
May 21—The Benedictine nuns of St. Emma Monastery in Hempfield may technically be cloistered, but by May 2020, they were just as anxious as everyone else to get back outside.
With covid-19 case counts rising and falling, they needed a way to safely provide social distancing — so they settled on a food fair, recruiting volunteers to cook, bake and create crafts to be sold to help benefit the monastery and its works.
And with year-long covid restrictions having eased recently, Mother Mary Anne Noll felt it was time to host the fair again.
"It's amazing the stuff people have done for us and gave to us," Noll said of the fair, which included homemade pasta sauce, baked goods, pierogies and more, along with raffles ranging from gift baskets to a $1,200 tool chest.
Noll said the fair is a way to bring community members together, while also raising funds for the monastery and helping the community find out more about it.
"This is another way to sort of have an open house and show people the wonderful piece of property we have here," Noll said. "It's peaceful, and it's beautiful to walk the grounds."
The sisters of St. Emma Monastery came to the U.S. in 1931 from Germany, arriving at Saint Vincent Archabbey.
By 1943, they purchased their current home as well as 10 acres of property from the John Robertshaw family. Later, they would purchase the adjacent 100-acre farm.
The festival will be open Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the monastery, 1001 Harvey Avenue.
For more, see StEmma.org.
Patrick Varine is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Patrick at 724-850-2862, pvarine@triblive.com or via Twitter .
