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Taste treats galore at White House Weekend
By Bob Jackson
CANFIELD
Four-letters words that begin with “f” aren’t always something that’ll get your mouth washed out with soap.
Take, for example, “food,” which just happened to be aplenty and was the prevailing focus Saturday at White House Fruit Farm’s ninth annual White House Weekend.
“It’s all about sampling local food,” said White House owner Debbie Pifer. “Things people make that you wouldn’t normally try.”
Pifer said White House Weekend started in 2005 as an open house to mark the opening of a new addition at the Canfield Township landmark business.
“We had so much fun with it that we just decided to keep it going,” said Pifer, noting that for many residents the event is a harbinger of spring. The festival-type affair will continue today from noon to 4 p.m.
Pifer said White House has other, seasonal events that draw larger crowds, especially in the fall, but she always looks forward to this weekend.
“This is just a very laid-back event,” she said. “We do it all indoors, so it’s easier to plan.”
Pifer said some 12 to 15 food vendors have stands set up inside the 10,000-square-foot farm market, where visitors can amble past and sample the wares that include peppers and oil, homemade biscotti, barbecue products, homemade maple syrup and grass-fed Longhorn beef, to name a few.
There is also a large selection of fresh fruits, vegetables, deli and bakery items.
Most of the vendors are from the local area, although a few, such as Nick Stello of Stello Foods, traveled a ways to take part. Stello is from Punxsutawney, Pa., where his family business has grown to have a substantial distribution.
He said the business was born 23 years ago when he was required to come up with a business plan as a part of an introduction to entrepreneurship class while he was a senior at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
“I always knew I wanted to do my own thing, but really didn’t know what that might be,” he said.
So, using his grandparents’ recipe for pepper spread, he began making the product in an outdoor kitchen on their back patio. Before long, the business moved into the basement of Stello’s parents’ home and eventually into the factory that now houses it.
He said his company manufactures some of the products sold under the White House label.
Maria Schrock and her husband, Arnold, came from the Wooster area to display and sell Mrs. Miller’s Peanut Butter Whipped Spread and mild pepper mustard.
“I’m Mrs. Miller’s daughter,” Maria said. “My mother started this business 40 years ago when I was just a baby.”
Maria said she used to travel with her husband to shows all over the northeastern United States but scaled back after the couple’s children, age 3 and 1, were born.
“But I love coming to this one,” she said. “This is a show that I won’t miss.”
Becky Brotherton of Lisbon and her mother, Nancy Brotherton of Salem, were among those who came out Saturday, and they didn’t mince words about what lured them.
“The taste-testing,” said Nancy, laughing and explaining that they attend other events at White House as well, during the summer and fall.
“We’re the seasonal samplers,” said Becky. “They have the best doughnuts in the world here.”
Bob and Janet Ashman of Boardman took in Saturday’s festivities with their grandchildren, Robbie and Nevaeh Jones of Youngstown. Janet said they are regular visitors to White House and the White House Weekend because of the atmosphere and, of course, the food.
Anything in particular?
“The doughnuts,” Janet said, laughing.