Nearly 25 years ago, David Esken asked organizers of the St. Joseph’s Center Summer Festival what food booth was hardest to staff with volunteers.
His family has worked the funnel cake stand ever since he asked the question.
“He said, ‘Well, it's me, my wife and my seven kids, and with us, you'll never have to man it again," said Missy Esken, one of David Esken’s daughters. "Now my mom and dad are both gone, and now my brother's gone, and we still keep on their memory and the tradition alive every summer.”
You can find her and more than 40 other family members and friends behind the fryers this weekend.
The annual festival runs from 4 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and from noon to 7 p.m. Sunday at Marywood University in Dunmore. The festival benefits the center, which offers assistance for people with intellectual disabilities and other services for the community.
At least 500 volunteers will help throughout the festival, from frying funnel cakes to directing traffic.
“We are appreciative of the folks that come up before and help us set up, the people that are here all weekend, and then the people that help us close it back down, so there is a tremendous amount of volunteers involved in the effort,” said Marylou Grogan, a member of the center’s auxiliary and volunteer coordinator for the festival.
On Thursday, volunteers hung signs, arranged donated items to sell, organized games and prepared for the WNEP telethon and arrival of meteorologist Joe Snedeker and the conclusion of his "Go Joe" bicycle trip.
Missy Esken, 44, and her sister, Jenny, 47, helped prepare the funnel cake stand. When the weather is nice, the stand can make about $7,000 during the three-day festival, selling the $5 funnel cakes.
“I think it's important for us to realize what the people at St Joe's Center sacrifice to take care of the children and the adults that need help, and anything that we could do to help is meaningful in a deep way,” Missy Esken said.
Their mother, Donna Esken, had always admired the work of the center, Jenny Esken said.
“It's like just part of our life,” she said. “Our elders are gone now, and now we recruit all of our friends, so we have a bunch of our co-workers and a bunch of friends we've had our whole lives, and they all come.”
This year, the family has dedicated the booth to David “DJ” Esken, the oldest of David and Donna's children, who died six months ago at the age of 52. Those working the booth will wear blue and green tie-dye shirts, his favorite colors. Jenny and Missy Esken made the shirts.
“He always fried and he always yelled, ‘Get your red hot funnel cakes here,’ and he would help bring the crowds in,” Missy Esken said.
The Eskens will think of their family’s legacy and the impact of the St. Joseph’s Center as people line up at the orange and white-striped tent this weekend. The hotter the day, the louder the music — and singing under the tent.
The Esken sisters also have a tip for the perfect funnel cake: “Lots of love and zero calories ... and lots of powdered sugar."
