Plymouth Alive Kielbasa Festival contest winners announced

Kevin Carroll, The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
·3 min read

Aug. 14—Kielbasa contest winners announced

The voting is finished, and here are the winners in the 2022 Plymouth Alive Kielbasa Festival contest:

—Tarnowski's Kielbasa, Nanticoke: 1st in fresh and smoked

—Komensky's, Duryea: 2nd in fresh and smoked

—Glen Lyon Bros., Glen Lyon: 3rd in fresh and smoked

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PLYMOUTH — There are a lot of reasons to love the annual Plymouth Alive Kielbasa Festival, far too many to list them all. Between the food, the music and the merriment, Plymouth's kielbasa celebration always has something for everyone.

For Devin Smith, the real reward was seeing the big smiles on the faces of her two sons.

"Seeing how much the kids love it, that's the best part for me," Smith said after Saturday's festivities kicked off with the annual Kielbasa Parade, to the delight of children everywhere looking to score some candy and see a fleet of first responder vehicles ride down Main Street.

Smith's son, Austin, was emphatic when asked about his favorite part of the day.

"The firetrucks," he said.

This year marks the 18th annual Kielbasa Festival, and the crowds keep getting bigger and bigger, with borough mayor Frank Coughlin saying that Friday's opening crowd was even bigger than they had anticipated.

Another large crowd turned out to start their Saturday morning off right, as the Kielbasa Parade marched through the borough and delighted onlookers up and down Main Street.

Bookended by Plymouth Borough police vehicles, this year's parade featured an endless sea of antique cars, musicians, local businesses and, of course, the fire trucks. Departments from all over the area joined Plymouth Borough in flashing their lights, sounding their sirens and making Saturday a special day for the children.

"It was nice to see all the different fire departments come out and join us," said Alexis Eroh, the chair of Plymouth Alive. "The parade had a very large level of involvement ... I love it when all the towns come together to celebrate this."

Leading the way on Saturday was Kielbasa Parade grand marshal Jack Kovach, the owner of Happy Pizza on West Main Street in the borough.

From high atop the utility truck ferrying him down the street, Kovach, with a shiny crown on his head, waved to spectators and tossed candy in every direction, always a favorite feature of any parade for the younger folks.

Saturday's parade led right into the second and final day of activities at the Kielbasa Festival, and by the time the last vehicles passed through the parade route, vendors and food trucks lining Main Street were ready to serve.

"We love the food, we keep coming back for the food," Smith said as she and her children looked around at all the Festival had to offer.

With live music starting at 1 p.m. with the Fuzzy Park Trio on the main stage, the festival's attendees found their favorite food stop, grabbed a cold lemonade and settled in to enjoy the music and enjoy each other's company.

For the children, there was face painting, plenty of games and other activities to keep them occupied.

Five-year-old Henley Meyers was looking forward to a very specific fun activity after she and her family finished watching the parade.

"I want to jump in the bounce house," said Meyers.

For Eroh and Coughlin, seeing the way the youngsters' faces light up watching the parade, or winning one of the little carnival games set up near the bandshell, makes it all worth it.

"My children are here playing games and loving this," Eroh said. "All of the parents get to come out and have a nice family day with their kids."

"This is what I think small-town America is, really," Coughlin said. "Take a look around, you see families walking around, everybody's having a good time."