Wednesday, I had to satisfy a craving. For the past month, I’ve been typing STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL this and STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL that into the calendar, and my goodness was it making me hungry! That’s why I decided I accompany my work buddy Cathy to the Ladies Guild of St. Mary of Czestochowa Church’s annual strawberry festival. Cathy, a member of the church, was quite the celebrity at the event. I’m convinced that she knows everyone in this town!

When we arrived at the church's parish center, toward the end of the festival, we were greeted by Olga Gorey, the guild's secretary. She told us that large shortcakes were $5.25 and small shortcakes were $4.50, which considering the portions we received and the fact that the proceeds would fund scholarships for local students, were not bad prices at all.

I asked how much the guild brings in each year.

"It varies, but we do well," Gorey said. "It's probably our major fundraiser."

I placed my order and received a ticket to cash in for a plate of strawberry goodness, but stopped to talk to Bobby Stachura on the way. Stachura had just finished enjoying some shortcake and I wanted to know more about what brings the locals out.

"I've been coming since I was in kindergarten," said Stachura, now a student at Lasell College in Newton, Mass., on home for summer break, adding that it was "a little tradition" of his to return each year.

I met Terry Dykas, the group's president, to get all of the facts and figures about the event. With strawberry-stained hands, she flipped through a file containing information from past years' festivals. She said that last year, the group made 473 shortcakes, but this year was looking more promising.

"This year we're doing better," Dykas said. "We're almost at 500."

I also asked how long the group had been doing this festival, and no one could really pinpoint the exact start because it had been going on for so long. Dykas consulted other long-serving members of the guild, including Jane Opalacz, who I was delighted to see. It's part of the joy of being a small-town journalist that you get to see the same people again sometimes. I had written about Opalacz when working on a series about local fraternal organizations, as she is a member of the Middletown Polish Falcons nest. By consulting Opalacz, they determined that the festival must have gone back to the mid 1950s. They reminisced about the earlier years of the festival, when members of the guild would pick their own strawberries from an area farm and the festival was accompanied by an outdoor carnival. Now, the berries are bought pre-picked in large cases and the carnival is no longer.

To learn more about the shortcakes themselves, I stepped into the kitchen, where a handful of women were hard at work. I met Agnes DiStefano, who Dykas said was in charge of placing the kitchen orders and knew just how much it would take to feed the hungry locals.

DiStefano was convinced that this year's festival was the best yet, and despite the hard work in the kitchen, was very pleased to be part of the festival.

"These girls are the best to work with," DiStefano said.

I asked about the recipe, wondering if maybe there were pieces of paper listing the secret ingredients being hidden away from this reporter's eyes. No such luck.

"The recipe is all in our heads," DiStefano said. "We all know what to do."

I also met Regina Brodzinski, who was manning the take-out station. From one end of the station to another, she was a one-woman order-taking, dessert-making machine. She claimed that the take-out station was easy and that she had been placed there for a few years now, but I think she just made it seem easy with those fast feet.

Opalacz reminded me, after scribbling down notes about the day, that I still had not cashed in my ticket for my shortcake. So she took my ticket and served up a heaping helping of some of the seriously delicious strawberry dessert. I made my way to a table to sit with Cathy and sample the treat that this whole festival is centered on. It was there that I met Nick DiStefano, Agnes' husband. You see, while there are 35 members of the group, some extra help is needed, which is why husbands sometimes get roped in to helping the guild ladies out. He said the ladies had been working since 7 a.m., tearing through 30 cases of berries in preparing the desserts. He also said that there were some concerns about how many people would attend the event because the guild was one of the last area groups to have its festival, but those concerns were dashed after the day's turnout.

After finishing our desserts, we met Joe Russo who, at 98 years old, looks forward to the festival and has attended for many years. The ladies of the guild fawned over him while putting together a special sugar-free berry mix to top the shortcake and trying to talk him into just a small dollop of whipped cream to top the treat.

So with many pictures taken and many new people met, we made our way back to the office and I was delighted, because I had met so many new people, had such a great dessert and yet again had a story to tell.

Photos by Catherine Avalone