Local bakeries keep busy with holiday demand

SOUTH PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Before the sun was up, the line stretched down the 1500 block of Rittner Street on Thursday.

"I went to turn on the oven, and it just wouldn't turn on. It died on me over night. I have no clue. Someone played a dirty trick on me," said Alice Murphy of Merion Station. "Maybe it was the turkey."

Murphy found herself with a Thanksgiving Day crisis, and so she turned to Cacia's Bakery.

The bakery normally bakes bread, but every Thanksgiving, since the '50s, they put Turkeys in their ovens.

"We take phone calls starting in September," said Sam Cacia.

Each turkey is brought in, already seasoned, in a roasting pan covered with tin foil and ready to go.

"They do an excellent job," said Steve Ford of South Philadelphia.

To make sure everyone gets their turkey, they've numbered each turkey so they can tell them apart.

Over at Villari Bros. Italian Bakery, Joe Villari tells Action News they make a lot of bread for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Villari has been making his bread the old-fashioned way for the last 45 years.

"We put the flour, water, and we mix the bread," said Villari.

Customers like Andrew Riela say it's a must-have on their Thanksgiving tables.

"Because the family that eat together, the family that stay together," said Riela.

Click on the image for the full report on both bakeries from Eva Pilgrim.