Large family gatherings might be out for some because of covid-19, but many in the region aren’t giving up on baking and other holiday food traditions.

Pat Frye, 75, of Monroeville, sitting with a friend over a coffee at Oakmont Bakery, said she and her daughter will still get together for Thanksgiving — which isn’t too out of the ordinary. Frye has a smaller family.

“She likes stuffing, so I think I’ll bake some of that,” Frye said. She also plans on buying some of Oakmont Bakery’s crème puffs. “It’s good stuff.”

Her friend, Hope Julian, also of Monroeville, said she won’t be baking for a large family gathering this year either. In fact, she might even order in. But she draws the line with her homemade buns — her mother taught her how to make them at a young age.

“I love making them,” Julian said. The 73-year-old said she doesn’t worry about going to the grocery store to buy all the ingredients.

“I try not to be paranoid about everything,” she said.

Her resolve comes at a time when coronavirus cases across the state have surged, leading Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Rachel Levine to expand an existing order for wearing masks and Allegheny County Health Director Debra Bogen to warn against traveling for the holiday.

The rising numbers have some in the region stocking up on groceries and supplies that ran out early during the pandemic.

Lori Hummel of Oakmont said Thanksgiving and Christmas are typically times for feasting in her Italian family. But the feast this year won’t be quite so robust, she said.

“It’s the strangest thing, not having a big Thanksgiving dinner,” Hummel said. “I mean, I usually buy a 30-pound turkey. It’s only 10 pounds this year.”

But she’ll still buy cookie trays, bagels and her favorite pumpkin-shaped cake Oakmont Bakery creates each year.

She said maybe it will be a good change. “It’ll be a time to be quiet, mindful and to think of other people. I guess it’ll be that kind of Thanksgiving this year. It’s OK.”

The same is true for Karl Domin of Murrysville.

“We’re not having a big party. We’re not having anyone over,” Domin said as he walked out of Bardine’s Country Smokehouse, a custom butcher’s shop in Crabtree, Westmoreland County, with a turkey breast suitable for his small family gathering.

Domin said his sister is recovering from covid-19, and they don’t want to take a chance because “you never know where you might get it.”

Pandemic or no pandemic, though, he drove to Crabtree for his turkey.

“I come here all the time,” Domin said.

Linda Ottavian of North Huntingdon will be going to her daughter’s house for Thanksgiving, when only five people will get together to eat the 12-pound turkey she bought at Bardine’s.

The popular butcher’s shop has been busy leading up to Thanksgiving, “but not as crazy as it was” in previous years, said owner Gary Bardine — though he planned to ramp up for a spike in business as it gets closer to Thursday. Business has increased by about 10% over last year, likely because restaurants will be closed because of the pandemic, Bardine said.

At Sand Hill Berries along Route 819 in Mt. Pleasant Township, more customers are opting for five-cut pies rather than larger eight-cut offerings, said Bobbitt Miller, an employee in the farm’s food store. Though more people are buying the smaller pies, they often also buy multiple pies, she said.

“A lot of people having smaller gatherings are buying a single pie,” said Miller, of Mt. Pleasant.

In recent weeks, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued guidelines warning against large gatherings at Thanksgiving, “We’ve had a lot of people call and cancel their order, or reduce their order,” Miller said.

What they are seeing on the positive side is “a nice increase” in orders to ship Sand Hill pies to family members who won’t be home for the holidays because of covid-19, Miller said.

It will be quiet at Gale Albright and Tom Ogden’s Polish Hill house, too. The husband and wife were shopping at Pennsylvania Macaroni Company in Pittsburgh’s Strip District last week stocking up on various nuts — for Christmas.

“It’ll be just my husband and I — no one else,” she said of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Ogden said he set up two tables spaced 6 feet apart on their outdoor porch, which overlooks the city. He said the porch has been fashioned with heaters.

So if the couple has anyone over, it will only be two other additional guests, he said.

That’s not the norm for the family, Albright said. Usually, the couple hosts anywhere from 20 to 30 guests for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

“And we’re not doing that. But that’s OK,” she said, placing a bag of pistachios into her basket.

Ogden chimed in: “It’s getting worse out there. How could we?”

It’s the same story for Rich George of Beaver County, who came to Pittsburgh’s Shadyside to shop for a new Apple Watch. He ventured over to Prantl’s Bakery on Walnut Street as he waited.

The family typically hosts Thanksgiving and Christmas at their home, and his wife goes into hyper drive to bake and cook, he said. She used to own a cookie business. George has a daughter who lives in California and a brother-in-law who lives in Kansas City. Both have decided to stay home this year.

“It’s gonna be a little different this year,” he said.

Staff writer Joe Napsha contributed to this report.

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