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IAN CAMPBELL Times Leader Correspondent

PLYMOUTH – Seven years on, and the Kielbasa Festival is going from strength to strength.

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Amanda Shonk of Wilkes-Barre stocks the Fetch’s Food Market display case with fresh kielbasa at the Kielbasa Festival in Plymouth on Saturday.

BILL TARUTIS/FOR THE TIMES LEADER

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Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, a challenger in the 11th District Congressional race, made a campaign appearance in the Kielbasa Festival parade Saturday morning

JOE BUTKIEWICZ/THE TIMES LeADER

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What started as a competition to find the region’s best kielbasa has become a much broader retail and fundraising opportunity for Plymouth businesses and charity groups.

Along Main Street between the old Plymouth High School and Washington Street on Saturday, there were dozens of stalls and shops selling kielbasa and pierogi, onion rings and teriyaki chicken, pulled pork and barbecue ribs. On the same street, the library was having its book sale, and the Pilgrim Congregational Church was selling 500 dozen Welsh cookies.

On Walnut Street, just off Main Street, one enterprising resident was using the same date to hold a yard sale.

The Catherine MacCauley House had a stand where gift baskets were being raffled off. The Turkey Hill store was giving away lemonade and ice cream. Avon merchants were moving perfume and makeup. Feinberg’s had furniture out on the footpath.

For an event that is meant to celebrate the majesty of the great meat sausage – in the strictest sense what kielbasa is – there was a lot more than sausage on the street.

Not to say that kielbasa isn’t where it’s at.

The second day of the festival started at 9 a.m. with a parade, and by quarter past, kids were eating kielbasa on a stick, the juices dripping down their chins, even before the parade was half over.

Walking past the Bosak stand, decorated with crowns and awards, you came to one of the big winners in the competitive part of the festival.

Bosak’s started taking part in the festival in the second year, Gail Bosak said, having learned of the competition from their customers at home in Olyphant. They’ve won seven awards in those six years, in 2005, 2007 and 2008, and last year won first place in both the fresh and the smoked categories.

Lest anyone think the fix is in, the judging is done anonymously. All competitors use the same style of tray, and business cards are attached underneath where no one can see.

Fetch’s Market advertises on its stand the fact that it won the inaugural event, seven years ago.

The reality for both Fetch’s and Bosak’s, and all the other participants in the festival, is that this year has been a winner, in terms of sales and attendance. The weather could not have been better, according to Linda Sipple, from the Pilgrim Church.

Of the 500 dozen cookies, they’d sold more than half of their supply by the time the Friday events were done, and she expected the rest would be gone before Saturday’s events were over.

And the teriyaki chicken and pork had been a strong seller at Dave’s, one of the workers noted, so it wasn’t just the kielbasa that was moving.

The popularity the festival is developing is clearly growing. Gail Bosak noted that one of her customers had come up from Florida, especially for the event.

And the chance the festival gave to meet and greet wasn’t lost on one area politician, either.

Lou Barletta, Hazleton mayor and Republican candidate for the 11th U.S. House seat currently held by Democrat Paul Kanjorski, was using the day to shake hands and exchange views.

Clearly, the festival is no longer just about who has the best kielbasa.