BLOOMSBURG - A stand at the Bloomsburg Fair would have brought in a third of Art Catino's income for the year. But even though the fair has been canceled because of flood damage, the owner of Catino's Italian Specialties said his situation could have been worse.
"We start ordering the ingredients several weeks in advance. We do food preparation a week in advance. If this happened a week later, we would have been in big trouble," Catino said Tuesday. "We were fortunate we didn't get stuck with prepared food."
Fair officials announced last week that the fair would be canceled for 2011, its 157th year, a move that followed extensive damages from the record rainfall of Tropical Storm Lee. The Susquehanna River crested at 32.75 feet at Bloomsburg on Sept. 9, the highest in history, and the fairgrounds were covered in 10 to 12 feet of water.
Catino's business is located at an 18 by 20 foot stand on Fifth Street and D Avenue behind the farm museum, and would have celebrated its 20th year at the fair. They have been recognized twice as best food stand.
Catino didn't want to divulge the exact dollar figure he brings in each year, but shared that he sells approximately 4,000 cups of soup and 5,000 sandwiches of various kinds during the week.
Much of the food was able to either be returned or the orders were canceled, but no food was lost, he said.
"We'll survive this. It's a hit, but we're survivors," he said.
Catino said he was concerned had the fair gone on as scheduled because the amount of devastation he had been seeing in the news.
"We run a clean operation. We cannot jeopardize contaminating anything, or risk one person getting sick," he said.
No way to make up
Catino and his wife, Maria, sell soupies and ingredients five months out of the year, distribute wine and grape juice and operate a canning and gift ship at 9 S. Oak St., Mount Carmel. They don't have a sit down restaurant nor do they have a mobile trailer in order to travel from fair to fair.
There is no way to make up that lost income, Catino said.
In previous years, the business had leftovers following fair week, and they would donate to local food banks.
"At this point, I don't have anything that I'm losing. My biggest problem is losing the income," he said.
Dave Petrovich, of Overlook, co-owner of The Soupie Stand with his wife, Dyan, said he wasn't scheduled to have his business at the fair this year, only because he couldn't devote enough time while working his full-time job.
"I know some vendors who prepare all winter. This is a big hit for everyone," he said.
In previous years, he started making soupies in December, and would sell nearly 2,000 during fair week and bring in at least $7,000 in profits. If he had been signed up, he said he wouldn't have known what to do with that many food items.
Paul Nye, owner of Trains and Things, said his loss was materialistic, and he was more concerned about Bloomsburg residents who lost everything than he was about his own situation. He declined further comment.
Gyros, pizza on Route 11
Along Route 11 in Scott Township, John Koutoufaris set up his "John the Greek" stands to sell gyros and pizza to residents and passersby and to keep his employees working, who would have missed out on two week's income because of the cancelled fair.
The Press Enterprise reported Koutoufaris plans to be open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. through Oct. 2 - a move that requires him to purchase a permit from the township.