By Anna Gilgoff

Special to The Press

A steady stream of customers ready to pickup homemade potato filling at the New Tripoli Fire Company was met with a special seasonal visitor, the Easter Bunny.

As parents picked up their orders, their children gravitated toward the big white rabbit, sitting in the parking lot of the fire station the day before Easter.

Children who accompanied their parents were rewarded with big, green plastic eggs to take home.

Approximately 200 takeout containers were stacked on a rolling cart, just outside the building and within two hours, they were all gone and so was the bunny.

A team of seven hard working cooks used a well-guarded secret recipe to prepare the potato filling on Good Friday.

“We started 10 a.m. and were done by 3 p.m.,” said Angie Dalrymple, one of the volunteer chefs. “We made them fresh yesterday.”

The sale has become a tradition.

“We started making and selling potato filling about eight years ago,” said Sid Madtes, almost wiggling his two big white ears.

Without the volunteers the event would not exist.

“I like volunteering,” said Susan Heffelfinger. “You raise money for what the volunteer firefighters need, which is a good way to spread Easter joy even after the jelly beans are all gone.”