“This is my first year to be the general chairman (of the Rusyn Food Festival at St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church in Ambridge). John, who was our president for 26 years was in charge of everything, and then he decided that he needed the rest.”
“Orthodox churches aren’t run by the clergy, they’re run by the congregation themselves. So they elect — just like other organizations — president, vice president, secretary, treasurer and the council. Peggy’s been on the council for years as well. So I did this off and on for 30 years. I have businesses; I got really busy and she was gracious enough to step up and take not only the presidency but the chairmanship of this event. Because (jokes) she has no sense!”
(Laughs) “I have no good sense. And so here I am, still! But it’s not just us — so many people help with this event. We start baking and freezing a couple months ahead of time. This is our income. Yesterday [Friday, the festival’s first day], we made $8,000. We were thrilled to death! But it costs a lot to maintain the church. We just fixed the driveway and sidewalk to the parish hall, and that cost about $10,000. So we have to keep working.”
“It truly has become a Beaver County tourism thing. A few weeks ago, I was on the phone making hotel reservations for a couple from Kentucky. Another woman called me the very next day from Texas and said, hey, where can we stay? I’m bringing 12 of us. We had people from Baltimore, from Annandale, Virginia. People literally come from all over the country. And even Rusyns from Europe who call their relatives and say, listen, we want to come visit you this summer — when’s the Rusyn Festival, because we want to come visit you during the festival so we can experience it.”
“In the early 80s, there was a man named James Nesbitt who wrote a book called MegaTrends. And I bought it for business purposes. And it was the 10 trends that were going to change the world as we knew it. And one of them was, he said, technology is going to make life so speedy, so fast and global and big that people will hunger to be rooted in something. That people don’t want to be part of just the world, they want to be a part of their community, whether it’s their church or their ethnic community.”
(New Parish Council President and Rusyn Festival Chair Peggy Rusnak of Darlington shares a laugh with former president and chair John Righetti at the St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church parish hall in Ambridge. The festival is held the first weekend in August. A one-day bake sale to support the church will be held December 23rd.)
