Ohio? Pittsburgh? These Heritage celebrations aren’t Southern, but very Hilton Head

Darlene Enright is a baker.

Has been all her life.

Or, most of it. (She's 55 and learned in her junior high "home ec" class.)

Her TV is tuned to the Food Network. Her magazines contain recipes. She's always on the hunt for cookbooks in thrift stores.

And cookies — she makes lots of cookies.

Like the fine batch she made to commemorate the 50th edition of the RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing — a PGA Tour tournament that started on our small South Carolina island and has grown beyond it, serving now as a landing spot for Folks From All Over and the food traditions they bring with them.

Enright posted a picture of her batch on the Facebook page for the Youngstown Cookie Table group.

"Beautiful," a fellow group member commented.

"Really a good looking platter," another said.

"Cool," another replied. "(But) how did you get the bee on the cookies?" (With a Seattle, Wash., Sur La Table cookie press, that's how. And with a steady hand, a light touch.)

In addition to the bee-stamped cookies, Enright made several shaped like 5s and 0s. They were for an office party. On Wednesday afternoon, she was in the kitchen again, baking another batch in honor of the Heritage's 50th for another party Friday.

Enright, originally from Connecticut, moved to Hilton Head about five years ago after vacationing here for a couple of decades. She has no Ohio connections, the Youngstown Cookie Table group aside.

And before she joined the group, she had no idea that Youngstown cookie tables were ... a thing. They are. The Wall Street Journal wrote a piece on them last year. "What’s a Wedding Without 18,000 Cookies in 150 Varieties Made by 45 Helpers?" the headline read.

(The folks in nearby Pittsburgh, P.A., also claim a cookie table tradition: "Here we think of Pittsburgh as the center of cookiedom, but we weren't crazy, just curious, about what Youngstown had to say about our local tradition," a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist wrote years ago. "A reader had alerted us about the situation.")

According to Ohio.com, Youngstown became an immigrant community in the early 1900s. Its new residents brought their baking traditions with them and, for weddings and special occasions, made cookies instead of expensive cakes.

"I think I read something in the newspaper or a magazine about (Youngstown cookie tables), and how many they make for weddings," Enright said. "And I love to bake, so I looked into it and saw they had a Facebook page, and I asked to join the group."

Through the group, she's shared recipes and learned how to smooth the frosting on intricate designs. And, of course,

And so, on several levels, her Heritage anniversary cookies are Very Hilton Head.

A place where vacations turn into extended stays.

Where cars with South Carolina tags sport bumper stickers decorated with Nittany Lions and Buckeyes.

A swirl of people and traditions — and a little Ohio-vs-P.A. rivalry — relocated and baked into a small South Carolina island.

A casserole of culture.

A spit of land in Sea Pines with a plaid lighthouse that shines like an ornate cookie on a pretty little platter.

This story was originally published April 12, 2018 at 12:02 PM with the headline "Ohio? Pittsburgh? These Heritage celebrations aren’t Southern, but very Hilton Head."