THE BALLOON MAN

Apple-Scrapple draws thousands to Bridgeville, DE NEWS JOURNAL • OCTOBER 10, 2010

BRIDGEVILLE -- The melodic foodstuffs came in every form imaginable.
Apples: Dumplings, fritters, cider, pie, by the bushel and singly.
Scrapple: Soft, crunchy, burnt to a crisp, with ketchup and with cheese.
It was the search for these local delicacies that drew an estimated 25,000 people to this western Sussex County town over the weekend for the annual Apple-Scrapple Festival, which combines live music, good eats, a plethora of vendors and political candidates and a kids' carnival into a massive street fair.Robin Romer drove an hour and a half from Odenton, Md., on the western shore, with husband, Paul, just to visit the event.
She likes her scrapple crispy and plain, though sometimes with a twist.
"Maybe sometimes with maple syrup -- just a few drips on the top," she said.
She said the festival, which they first attended five years ago, is a great time.
"We've been around already," she said. "It's always fun."
At the carnival, boys surreptitiously fired marshmallow guns at unsuspecting human targets, while girls practiced their best princess waves perched atop the merry-go-round horses.
Politicians worked the crowd, including Democratic congressional candidate John Carney, Democratic Attorney General Beau Biden and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell. And some elected officials partook in the scrapple-slinging contest -- a test of how far one can hurl a two-pound block of the meat product, with victory claimed by Sussex County Council Vice President Mike Vincent of Seaford.
But the big draw was the grub, said Ryan Thompson of Dover. "I like mine burnt," she said of the scrapple.
Cheryl Lentz of Mechanicsburg, Pa., grew up on scrapple and traveled with her husband from their Ocean City condo to get a taste of her childhood comfort food.
"My grandmother made it -- we had scrapple about every morning," she said.
She said the festival was a great idea. "It's really well-attended," Lentz said. "There's a lot to see and do."
Pat McGlinchey drove north from Salisbury, Md., with his wife and son to enjoy the festivities.
"I love scrapple," he said. "That's why we came up."
He missed scrapple when he lived in Connecticut for several years and it was nowhere to be found.
And what's the big attraction to scrapple, which is made of pig parts and corn meal? How would he describe it to folks who'd never had a taste?
"I wouldn't know how to explain it," McGlinchey said thoughtfully. "People either like it or they hate it. That's the thing about scrapple."