One time, before mass started, my father pointed toward the fence along Peach Street and said, “Joe, over there is where they used to have the beer stand.” I was puzzled and said, “What?” He repeated, “Over there is where they used to have the beer stand.” He then told me that in the 1940s, before Monsignor Hrynuck came to the parish, they used to sell beer during mass. Of course, I did not believe him. He told me to ask my grandmother, Helen Klapatch, who was with us. I asked her, because I knew that grandmothers do not lie about things like that. She told me that yes indeed they did have a beer stand on the cemetery on Green Sunday. I asked her if my grandfather used to buy beer during mass. She said, “Of course he did. It was terrible. The men would start to carry on during the mass. They had to discontinue it.” I asked her, “Why did they do this in the first place?” She replied, “Someone must have thought that it would be a good way to raise money for the parish.”
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