Last Saturday was the annual St. Nicholas Festival at Nesquehoning's St Mary's Byzantine Catholic Church.

People traffic inside was steady all day. Folks from the Panther Valley, as well as Tamaqua and Jim Thorpe gathered in the social hall to enjoy a variety of ethnic foods like halupki, pierogies, haluski, and nalysniki (dumplings with meat) along with homemade chicken and vegetable soups.Accordion music filled the air compliments of parishioner Eddie Kusko. Visitors bought flea market items and tickets on about 90 gifts and baskets full of treasures. There was plenty of time to enjoy picture taking with the day's important visitor, St. Nicholas.The Rev. Dr. Vasyl Chepelskyy, said it truly was "good food, good music, families and good company and all of this in church! What more could you want?"On Sunday, Vasyl celebrated a Christmas dinner with his other parish family: St. John the Baptist of Lansford. The social hall was decorated with garland and tinsel fit for any Christmas festivities. The backdrop for St. Nicholas was an outdoor scene lined with decorated evergreens.The parish enjoyed a variety of foods and good music and company. After the meal, they joined in for traditional caroling in addition to Kusko serenading with his accordion.Children then gathered at St. Nicholas' feet for a special time of gift giving. Often times, many people give the gifts on St. Nicholas feast to better focus on the Birth of the Infant Jesus on Christmas.St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was Bishop of Myra in Turkey who used his wealth to help many people and his blessings to cure the sick.In fact, the tradition of gold coin candy comes from a tale of how St. Nicholas once helped a poor family by going on their roof and tossing gold coins down the chimney. They landed in the stockings below, which hung on the mantle to dry.