Sept. 20 is Erie’s sixth annual Biscuit Day. It’s the biggest fund-raiser of the year for the Erie Historical Society. EHS president Sarah Wise said last year’s event raised more than $6,000 for the organization.
The Biscuit Day tradition goes back to the 1870s. “It was going for a few years when Erie was formed,” Wise said.
Erie was incorporated as a town in 1874. At the original Biscuit Day, there were fresh-baked biscuits and bowls of mulligan stew. Ladies ate free. “There were three or four bakers in town and they made the biscuits,” Wise said. “The women made the stew.” There was also homemade apple-butter and a variety of homemade jams and jellies at the event.
Most likely, Biscuit Day was one of the final community gatherings before the men returned to work in the coal mines. In Erie, the mines were closed in the summers because the particular type of coal that was mined in the area would disintegrate in hot weather.