Reading Terminal Market Celebrates 35th Anniversary Of Their Amish Vendors
By Hadas Kuznits
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Reading Terminal Market will host a 35 year anniversary celebration of its Amish vendors this Saturday.
Sarah Levitsky, marketing and event manager at Reading Terminal Market, says the merchants first opened shop here in 1980.
"They're a big deal, we love them." says Levitsky. "They're a big part of the identity of the market."
David Esh, owner of Hatfield deli is one of a handful of Amish owners who have been at the market since 1980. He says over the past 35 years, the Amish have not only shared their food with Philadelphia, but also their culture:
"It's very different from when I grew up as a young man in Lancaster County." says Esh. "The Amish were very sheltered whereas today it's not as unknown as it was at one time."
He says these days the whole family comes to work at the store:
"My children and my grandchildren, so three generations. And my dad sometimes comes too!"
On Saturday, the 35th anniversary of the Pennsylvania Dutch vendors will include buggy rides; and store owner Moses Smuckler will be organizing a petting zoo.
Smuckler: "I'm going to have a cow, some calves, three little pigs."
Kuznits: "Are these your personal animals?"
Smuckler: "No, I'm borrowing them from the neighbors. I'm just going to go around and borrow them."
Kuznits: "So you're borrowing them from your neighbors!"
Smuckler: "Yes, and the cow needs to be milked when it comes down here!"
