Annual feast brings community together

Verona Pizza House held its eighth annual free community Thanksgiving feast on Thanksgiving Day at the Lehighton Recreation Center.

Residents arrived before the start time at noon to take a seat and wait for the food. All food was provided by Verona Pizza House, while Zimmerman’s Dairy provided the drinks and the Lehighton Fire Company helped to sponsor the event monetarily.

One of the owners, George Buglov, gave credit to his son and partial owner, Bobby Buglov, who came up with the idea more than eight years ago.

“I wanted to say thank you to the community for welcoming us into their town,” Bobby said. “Our business is doing well because of them, so I wanted to give back.”

Bobby added that it’s also nice for residents to enjoy a meal with the community instead of just eating turkey and going to bed. This is something different to enjoy, he said.

A few members of the community expressed their gratitude for the public meal, since some of them didn’t have family around but still wanted to be among others.

They heard about the event and were glad they decided to show up to enjoy the holiday with good company.

George Buglov said around 150 people showed up last year to enjoy the meal with their community.

Members of the community were found helping one another to tables, helping to serve desserts and salads, opening doors for their neighbors and directing each other to the food.

One group of residents said they headed out as soon as they were done eating so other people arriving could have a place to sit.

George Buglov’s other son, Slavi Buglov, served the main course food items as people showed up from noon to 3 p.m. and finally took his own lunch around 1:15 p.m. once things slowed down in the middle of it.

As people headed out the door, each one of them spoke of the delicious food and the kind owners who put the event together.