As the bells of St. Peter & St. Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Carnegie ring in the 9:00 hour, Sherri Walewski ties a red bandana around her head and, like a Potato Rambo, marches into the kitchen to oversee Friday morning’s pierogi prep work.

A small army of parishioners is on hand to help peel, cut, boil, mash and scoop 60 pounds of Idaho spuds into hundreds of cheddar-mashed potato balls. On Saturday, volunteer “pinchers” will spend a few hours placing each ball on a thin circle of dough and pinching the edges shut. The pierogies will then be boiled, packaged and frozen for the church’s 14th annual Ukrainian Food Festival Sept. 12-13.

During 2024’s weekend celebration, they sold out of 360 dozen pierogies by lunchtime on day 2. This year’s mission is to make at least 400 dumplings,

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