Westside meat market prepares to sell thousands of pounds of sausage ahead of Dyngus Day

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Thousands of pounds of sausage are expected to be consumed across Michiana for Easter Sunday, and then Dyngus Day on Monday, a Polish tradition to celebrate the end of the Lenten season.

The crew at Eby’s Old Fashion Meat Market on South Bend’s westside have been preparing for weeks for this weekend, and customers say just like how people say everyone’s Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, "Isn't everybody Polish on Dyngus Day?".

For more than a century on South Bend’s westside the day after Easter is better known as Dyngus Day, a celebration of Polish heritage, and it wouldn’t be complete without the food, especially Polish Sausage, or Kielbasa.

At Eby’s they’ve been using their family recipe for the past 40 years.

"Sausage is obviously one of our biggest hits, it's made fresh daily. We expect to sell about 20 to 30,000 pounds this week,” said Nathan Pawlicke, the manager at Eby’s.

Pawlicke says Good Friday is their busiest day of the year. They even open an extra register to help get people in and out as fast as possible as they come from all across Michiana to get their hands on one or more of the 5-pound bags of sausage available, and Easter hams.

After the Easter fests are over, folks told ABC57, they're ready for the Dyngus Day Celebrations.

"The westside is gonna be hoppin', and we'll be there along with everyone else to celebrate,” said Dave Baloun, who grew up in South Bend and drove from Northern Michigan to visit.

Eby’s will be open on Saturday until 7 p.m., and closed Sunday and Monday so their employees can enjoy the holidays as well.