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Wilkes-Barre mails second round of letters to landlords

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Greater Nanticoke Area board president steps down

<p>PLYMOUTH &#8212; Not even a late-afternoon rainstorm could keep kielbasa connoisseurs and street fair aficionados from downtown Plymouth for the opening of the Kielbasa Festival on Friday.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s good,&#8221; borough resident Vicki Thomas said of the festival and its offerings as she waited for some take-out from AuRants restaurant being prepared under a tent. &#8220;I just wish it wouldn&#8217;t rain.&#8221;</p><p>AuRants employee Danny Blacer helped keep Thomas&#8217; grandson, Kyle Thomas, 8, in good spirits. He let the boy use a battery-powered megaphone to entice customers to try the Duryea restaurant&#8217;s kielbasa-bobs or some kielbasa macaroni and cheese while he, his grandmother and grandfather, Ed Fore, stood in the rain awaiting their order.</p><p>And AuRants was by no means the family&#8217;s only vendor stop Friday. &#8220;We&#8217;re going up and down the street. You&#8217;ve got to try it all,&#8221; Vicki Thomas said.</p><p>At the next tent over, Internet-based Backwoods Brittle Company owner Lynn Yasenchak said business was steady before the rain started around 4 p.m.</p><p>&#8220;You&#8217;re going to get your people who go home when it starts raining, but then you have a lot of people who stopped (under the tent) for shelter and some samples,&#8221; Yasenchak said.</p><p>Varieties of brittle samples included everything from the traditional peanut to the more adventurous toasted coconut almond, butter pecan, sesame sunflower almond, cayenne cashew and strawberry pecan pretzel.</p><p>&#8220;I have no kielbasa brittle,&#8221; Yasenchak said with a chuckle. &#8220;We thought about it and then we said, um, no.&#8221;</p><p>While several area restaurants were selling their specialties under tents or out of trucks parked along Main Street, local nonprofits were dishing out delicacies as well.</p><p>Borough resident Kim Becker said the Plymouth VFW&#8217;s sausage and peppers sandwiches were moving fast &#8212; a delicious deal at only $3.</p><p>With their purchases, customers were helping fund the post&#8217;s community projects, such as scholarships for Wyoming Valley West seniors and donations to the Wilkes-Barre VA Medical Center, Becker noted.</p><p>Alan and Donna Hornik, of Hanover Township, were impressed with the variety of vendor offerings.</p><p>&#8220;Believe it or not, it&#8217;s our first time over, even living this close,&#8221; Alan Hornik said.</p><p>Given his travel with the military and having been stationed with the Army in El Paso, Texas, Hornik said he and his wife &#8220;are the type of people who don&#8217;t stay close (to home), we go far away&#8221; to attend new events and festivals.</p><p>&#8220;Local food is good, but it&#8217;s good to get a taste of different cultures,&#8221; he said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Alan and Donna Hornik, of Hanover Township, walk along a rainy Main Street during the second day of the Plymouth Kielbasa Festival on Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_kielbasa-sm4-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Alan and Donna Hornik, of Hanover Township, walk along a rainy Main Street during the second day of the Plymouth Kielbasa Festival on Friday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Steve Mocarsky | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_kielbasa-sm5-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">AuRants employee Danny Blacer enlists the help of Kyle Thomas, 8, of Hanover Township, to invite people to try the restaurant&#8217;s Kielbasa-bobs and kielbasa macaroni and cheese with a battery-powered megaphone as his granparents, Vicki Thomas and Ed Fore, wait for their order Friday at the Plymouth Kielbasa Festival. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_kielbasa-sm5-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>AuRants employee Danny Blacer enlists the help of Kyle Thomas, 8, of Hanover Township, to invite people to try the restaurant&#8217;s Kielbasa-bobs and kielbasa macaroni and cheese with a battery-powered megaphone as his granparents, Vicki Thomas and Ed Fore, wait for their order Friday at the Plymouth Kielbasa Festival. </caption1><photoCredit1>Steve Mocarsky | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_TTL081217Kielbasa1-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Tammi Bosak, of Olyphant-based Bosak&#8217;s Choice Meats, prepares a kielbasa sandwhich at the Plymouth Kielbasa Festival on Friday night. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_TTL081217Kielbasa1-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Tammi Bosak, of Olyphant-based Bosak&#8217;s Choice Meats, prepares a kielbasa sandwhich at the Plymouth Kielbasa Festival on Friday night. </caption2><photoCredit2>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Steve Mocarsky</p><p>smocarsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>SCHEDULE</strong></p><p>The Plymouth Alive Kielbasa Festival continues today with parade lineup at 10 a.m. The procession will start at 11. A kielbasa competition at the American Legion starts at 1 p.m.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Steve Mocarsky at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @TLSteveMocarsky.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Visitors undeterred by rain on opening day of Plymouth Kielbasa Festival