Rhubarb returns to Kolach festival

CEDAR RAPIDS — It takes an army to make the 120,000 kolaches to be sold starting Friday at the St. Ludmila Kolach Festival. One of the army's units is the rhubarb committee.

A hint of cinnamon and the rhubarb's sweet, tart aroma hung in the air Wednesday as the eight-member unit cooked the filling starting at 7:30 a.m. and finishing around 1 p.m.

Each assumed a designated station as the captain, Susie Vecerka, explained each position.

Ron Stallman and Wayne Holland helped drain and move the 1,070 cups of chopped rhubarb donated by parishioners. Clarice Holland measured the cups for each batch. Marge Sedlacek added other ingredients to the batch — the recipe is Clarice Holland's secret.

Last, Donna Grimm, Carol Stallman and Radell Eiler cooked the filling and stirred it to the right consistency before it sat in buckets for cooling.

Wayne Holland had perhaps the most coveted position as the designated taste tester for each batch. How did he land his position?

'I just fell into it,' he laughed while Ron Stallman snickered and said it was out of seniority.

Holland isn't the only one who can't get enough of the filling. Last year, the rhubarb kolaches debuted and after many festivalgoers requested them again, the committee is bringing them back.

The rhubarb kolach will be among six other flavors sold at the festival on a first-come, first-served basis, including most-popular cherry, along with apricot, poppy seed, prune, apple and strawberry.

A traditional kolach is a Czech sweet bun filled with a dollop of fruit or filling, but the pastry holds much more value than a dollop to the Cedar Rapids community.

In its 43rd year, the kolach festival draws people from as far as Colorado and serves as a major fundraiser for the St. Ludmila Catholic Church each second weekend of June, said Tim Flaherty, chairman of the festival.

In fact, last year the police became involved when people grew angry that the kolaches were temporarily unavailable, according to the rhubarb committee. One couple waited in their truck for three hours for more batches of rhubarb, Grimm said.

'We can only bake so fast,' she said.

Volunteers, both parishioners and non-parishioners, make up the 75-person, four-hour shifts that spread from Thursday night through Sunday afternoon to bake the kolaches. This is in addition to the 30-person shifts needed for the other festival activities.

This year's festival runs Friday through Sunday at St. Ludmila Catholic Church, 211 21st Ave. SW.

To buy kolaches:

Available while they last.

Hours:

Friday: 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. (drive up only); 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday: 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Cost: $10/dozen, $5/half dozen and $1/ each sold on festival grounds; limits may be enforced depending on supply.

Flavors: cherry, apricot, poppy seed, prune, apple, strawberry and rhubarb