Scenes From 2018’s First Mud Sale

The first mud sale of 2018 took place this past Saturday, at Strasburg in Lancaster County.

Pie for sale. Photo by Mark Pynes

In the video below by Penn Live, John Stoltzfus of Strasburg Fire Company explains how the sales work, including how the funds are collected. The sales generate funds to cover about 1/3 of the company’s annual budget.






They expected 3-4,000 people at the sale this year, from as far away as Germany.

A glove seller gets the attention of Amish boys. Photo by Mark Pynes

You can view more photos of the Strasburg sale here, and find a full 2018 mud sale schedule here.

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    2 Comments

    1. Alice Mary

      Whoa, "Mudder!"

      That’s a LOT of mud sales! I enjoyed the drone view, and wonder what the Amish think of yet another “English” invention (drones) that infringe upon their (and our!) privacy from above, at public events. Has anyone asked?

      Are most mud sales in PA and I’m guessing Ohio? Any in the Midwest (Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, for example?) Just curious, as PA is a bit far for this relatively poor, retired Englisch woman. And I still wonder about organized tours that would take people like me to mud sale locations—of course, we’d probably need to bring along a semi truck to bring our purchases back home!

      Once again, thanks for sharing the videos, Erik.

      Alice Mary

      1. Ah looks like you checked out the 2018 listing post with that video, yes that’s a nice drone shot. I do like the footage but I’ve commented before, I find drones kind of creepy in general. I don’t know what Amish directly think about drones, I’m guessing everything from amusement to annoyance 🙂

        This is a good question, the “mud sales” label is found mainly in SE PA, though I wonder if daughter settlements from Lancaster hold something similar and call it the same (for instance, sizable Indiana communities in Parke and Wayne counties, etc). I don’t know the answer to that.

        Many communities do benefit auctions for schools, health reasons, etc, and I bet you will find some in Illinois area for instance, with Arthur the obvious destination (you might remember this one: https://amishamerica.com/illinois-amish-quilt-benefit-auction/).

        As far as sales to support fire companies, this phenomenon of Plain participation in them is strongest in Lancaster area, though I do know there are Amish volunteers in fire companies in New York: https://amishamerica.com/amish-firemen-in-new-york/