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Festival celebrates cabbage, community by Susan Mikula
Campbell
Cabbage leaves made a fashion statement last weekend as Coleslaw Sally, a banker pirate, Cinderella and the brothers Captain Cabbage and Cabbage Boy harvested top honors at the Town of Porter Cabbage Festival. The fashion show was just one of the vegetable highlights at the third annual event held last Sunday at the Ransomville Fire Company grounds. The festival was hosted by the town of Porter, the Ransomville Business and Professional Association, the village of Youngstown and the Lower Niagara River Region Chamber of Commerce. Crowd estimates were put at 3,000 to 4,000 throughout the day, according to Jeff Baker of Peter Baker Farms, chairman of the event. “It keeps growing every year,” he said. “So many people stopped by on their way out and said what a great day it was.” It is fun, said Kathy Zasucha, town of Porter recreation director. “We don’t celebrate community enough, I think, so it was nice to see everyone there,” she said. “You’ve got to get together and talk to one another. It’s too easy to stay at home these days.” Coleslaw Sally Wins Tiara Zasucha, 55, bagged a tiara and bragging rights as the Cabbage Queen in the annual Cabbage Leaf Fashion Show with her portrayal of Coleslaw Sally. Her legs were in the bottom part of a bull costume, reworked as a horse, with fake human legs to the side. Her outfit featured shredded cabbage leaves and carrots. The final dressing was her entry on stage dancing to “Mustang Sally.” “I was the first one out, and that probably helped. I hope there’s one next year, so I can pass the crown on to somebody else,” the Porter resident said. Winner in the adult male competition was Adam Savard, 28, of Niagara Falls, who entered because the women at the HSBC bank in Youngstown were busy last weekend. “There were a lot of weddings that weekend, so no one else could do it, and I thought, why not?” said Savard, who has since been promoted to manager of the Town of Niagara HSBC. He admitted his community service project made him a little uneasy with pre-appearance jitters, just like the other contestants, but said he was fine once he took the stage in his pirate costume. “It was a lot of laughs. It turned out to be very enjoyable.” Savard’s costume featured black and white striped pants with cabbage leaves fastened to the side, a black vest, a white shirt covered in cabbage leaves, a fake earring with a cabbage leaf hanging from it and a cabbage leaf eye patch. There was even a parrot fastened to his shoulder with its own little cabbage uniform. Banker Dons Pirate Garb The 20 contestants met at the Ransomville Fire Hall the Thursday before the competition to create their costumes. Savard, the HSBC banker, admitted he had a little help with his pirate outfit – ironically it was from Janice McCaw of First Niagara bank. McCaw is chairman of the Lower Niagara River Region Chamber of Commerce board of directors. In the children’s division, top costume honors went to Lewiston residents Felecia Robinson, dressed as Cinderella, and brothers Trey (Cabbage Boy) and Connor (Captain Cabbage) Caso. Normally this time of year, Peter Baker Farms is busy shipping 80,000 pounds of cabbage a week to New York City. There, the wholesaler – a Chinese woman in the Bronx – processes it and makes cabbage rolls, and the Porter cabbage ends up in Big Apple Chinese restaurants. “We were glad some of that cabbage stayed in Porter last weekend,” said Sandy (Hays) Mies, president of the Chamber of Commerce. Jeff Baker and his wife, Gloria, personally go out into the fields to pick the best cabbage leaves, which are spread all over Town Hall to dry, then taken to the costume workshop where they are sewn, painted and decorated, Mies said. This year contestants came, not only from Porter, but also from Lewiston, Sanborn, Niagara Falls and Wilson.
Cabbage from Baker Farms Baker Farms not only supplies the cabbage leaves for the costumes and heads of cabbage for the games, but also had a tent at the farmers market section of the festival, selling large heads of cabbage at a bargain price of $1 each, and pumpkins. Three Youngstown residents took the cake, or should we say cabbage, in the annual recipe contest. Mary Tryan won the Soup/Appetizer Division with Dogs in a Blanket with Sauerkraut. Amelia Clippinger took the Entrée Division with Lazy Galambki. Mary Ann Rolland took the top award in the Dessert/Other Division with Cabbage Corn Cake. Other competition winners were: Fun Run Winners
Cabbage Toss Winners
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