People packed the streets to purchase crafts, clothing and potatoes from vendors, but Cambria County Farm Bureau Vice President Ethan Hoover said he wanted to focus on “the history of Cambria County potato growers.”

Finding its roots

At one time, Cambria County was the second-largest potato-growing county in the state, according to Hoover.

“A lot of farmers grew potatoes here,” he said.

Fran Ritchey serves bowls of potato soup at the festival Saturday morning. Mirror photo by Colette Costlow

Hoover and Cambria County Farm Bureau Committee Chairman Bob Davis had their own tent Saturday morning dedicated to teaching passersby about the root vegetable and the history of PotatoFest.

Inside the tent, Hoover and Davis provided pictures of local farming families and how they used to harvest potatoes each season.

Davis said farmers had to dig potatoes “by hand” in the past, and then threw them into the bed of a truck.

He said that he used to help harvest potatoes in high school, and each bag of potatoes would have a token attached to it, signaling which worker harvested what bag. He said that each bag was 10 cents, so if he picked 150 bushels of potatoes, he would earn $15.

“And that was a long day,” he said.

Mia Rogers, 3, plays at potato cutout stands with her mother, Hannah Pettenati, at PotatoFest on Saturday. Mirror photo by Colette Costlow

Hoover said he grew up on a potato farm in Patton, and he remembers working alongside his father and his grandparents.

“My great-grandfather, my grandpap and my father worked these lands, and now I’m working on these lands, and I actually own some of the farm,” he said.

Now with a 1-year-old daughter, Eilia, he said he’d “like it” if one of his children took over the farm in the future.

In light of Cambria’s large and dedicated potato farming population, PotatoFest was created to celebrate that heritage, Hoover said.

The festival was a “small thing” 34 years ago, Davis said, noting that a big potato harvester was parked “right at the stop light in the middle of town.”

Writer Cathy Breisacher signed copies of “Chip and Curly” at her booth Saturday. Mirror photo by Colette Costlow

Today, the event has drastically grown from what it was, with many food, craft and clothing vendors lining the streets of downtown Ebensburg.

Hoover believed the event began to stray away from its grassroots as it grew, saying that there were not enough tents “remembering the potato farms.”

He said their booth is “a remembrance of our heritage and potato farming.”

Stewed, baked and booked

Many types of potatoes were being sold at the festival on Saturday.

Copies of “Chip and Curly” sit at Cathy Breisacher’s booth Saturday morning. Mirror photo by Colette Costlow

Scott and Lori Kopco were selling cups of their homemade potato soup at Pappy’s Potato Soup booth.

Lori’s father, Harry Huzsek, came up with the family potato soup recipe, and he passed away in September 2024.

In the past, Huzsek was used to cooking for “large groups of people,” Scott Kopco said, because he was involved with his church and other festivals, so he had “a lot of people to feed.”

“It became his signature soup,” Lori Kopco said.

The family moved to Ebensburg 13 years ago.

Ethan Hoover holds his daughter, Eilia Hoover, 1, while talking with people alongside Bob Davis. Mirror photo by Colette Costlow.

Lori said her friend gave her the idea of selling her father’s soup at PotatoFest.

Scott said they continue to make and sell his soup to “keep the memory of him going.”

Being their only event of the year, they prepared 80 gallons of soup starting Thursday.

“We love it once a year, but then a year goes by and you forget how much work it was,” Scott said. “The PotatoFest is our favorite event around here.”

It is also Autumn Kolar’s favorite day of the year, which is why she helped her family and their business — Off the RAK Restaurant & Bar — this weekend.

At their tent, they sold loaded baked potatoes with such specialty flavors as buffalo chicken, BBQ pulled pork, steak and cheese and shrimp scampi.

Kolar said she was hopeful they would be busy because they had 600 potatoes to sell throughout Saturday.

She said potatoes were her favorite food, noting that baked potatoes and cheesy scalloped potatoes are her favorite, while mashed potatoes are her least favorite.

Some channeled potatoes as artistic inspiration, like one Hollidaysburg resident.

In 2019, Hollidaysburg Area School District librarian and author Cathy Breisacher wrote “Chip and Curly,” a book inspired by the Ebensburg PotatoFest.

“I’ve been coming here for years and years, and that’s what gave me the idea to write a story about potatoes,” she said.

Filled with “potato puns and potato characters,” two potatoes, Chip and Curly, compete in a sack race.

Breisacher said she sells her book at PotatoFest, along with other local events that encourage vendor participation.

“To me, potatoes equal fun,” she said. “I feel like people love potatoes in any kind of way, shape or form, to eat them, to wear them.”

Starch enthusiasts

Twin Rocks resident Carrie Lisica, 50, said she came to the festival to eat, walk around and buy items. She was sitting on the curb alongside her friend, Mary Mesoros, 73, while eating an inside-out pierogi.

Potatoes are one of Lisica’s favorite foods, especially because “they’re carbs,” she said while laughing.

“Everyone around here loves pierogies, whether it’s the different style or traditional,” she said. “It’s just a big thing around here.”

Three-year-old Mia Rogers also enjoys potatoes, according to her mother, Hannah Pettenati.

Rogers played at the potato cutout stands Saturday morning, which Pettenati

said were fun for her daughter, along with seeing people and crafts.

They try to attend the PotatoFest each year, she said, since it is “definitely on the calendar.”

Since potatoes are a popular vegetable, people have different interpretations as to what a potato means to them.

Thinking historically, Lisica said potatoes “kept an entire country from starvation before.”

They’re “filling, sustaining and I can make them in 50 different ways,” she said.

Potatoes are a “comfort food” to Kolar and her mother, Heather.

Davis believed potatoes are “one of the perfect foods” because they’re nutritious and economical.

Scott Kopco said potatoes have always been “a part of our family.”

“Ever since I met my wife, I was enjoying her dad’s soup,” he said.

As for Hoover, he said potatoes began his “love for farming.”

When he got home from school and watched cartoons as a kid, he said his father would say, “let’s go, we’re going to grade potatoes.”

Due to his exposure to farming at a young age, he said he was able to “learn what hard work was,” which resulted in him owning his own farm.

“A potato means a lot to me,” Hoover said.