Drew Barrymore Show guests react to Lancaster's Potato Man

Lancaster's "Potato Man," Pat Foy, was featured on The Drew Barrymore Show Friday morning after more than 20 years of handing potatoes to trick-or-treaters. In a "Drew's News" segment, Sunny Anderson, Drew Barrymore, and Ross Mathews handed potatoes to the audience and shared a quick microwave baked-potato tip.

Key Takeaways

• Pat Foy of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, appeared in a Drew Barrymore Show "Drew's News" segment about his Halloween potato tradition.
• Food Network chef Sunny Anderson introduced the story; she, Drew Barrymore, and Ross Mathews then handed potatoes to studio guests.
• Foy has given out spuds since about 2004 and is now seeing a second generation of trick-or-treaters on North Pine Street.
• The Idaho Potato Commission sponsored more than 200 pounds of potatoes this year, with leftovers headed to local charities.
• Despite past coverage in the Wall Street Journal and on NBC, Foy says the smiles and laughter—not the spotlight—keep him going.

What did Drew Barrymore Show guests hear about Lancaster's Potato Man?

According to LancasterOnline, a Lancaster city man was featured on The Drew Barrymore Show on Friday morning, spotlighting a Halloween custom he has kept for more than two decades. The segment fell under "Drew's News," with Food Network chef and regular contributor Sunny Anderson explaining how resident Pat Foy hands out potatoes to trick-or-treaters.

Anderson, Drew Barrymore, and co-host Ross Mathews asked the audience whether they would like a potato. The three then handed potatoes out on set, and Anderson offered instructions for making a baked potato in the microwave. LancasterOnline noted that the hosts did not say much more about the tradition beyond mentioning it and passing around the spuds—and, unfortunately, that Anderson does not pronounce "Lancaster" correctly.

The appearance capped a week of local anticipation. A day earlier, LancasterOnline reported that the segment would include Foy's submitted photos and videos and was scheduled for 9 a.m. on Harrisburg's CBS affiliate. Foy, a craftsman who turned 67 that week, said he would be working and unable to watch—but that the attention was never the point.

For readers who follow feel-good community stories that stick around for decades, this one sits comfortably in our Nostalgia: Then & Now coverage—old-school porch culture meeting daytime TV.

Who is Lancaster's Potato Man, and how did the tradition start?

Pat Foy lives on the 200 block of North Pine Street in Lancaster city with his wife, Beth Wenner. Neighbors know the long line that snakes up to their porch each Halloween, when trick-or-treaters take part in a choice that has become local lore: candy or potato?

The tradition began around 2004 with a 75-pound bag of russet baking potatoes from Costco. While handing out candy, Foy would put the question to kids. What started as a quirky practical joke grew into an annual ritual sturdy enough that Foy now says he is beginning to see a second generation of trick-or-treaters enjoying their spuds.

"I'm a prisoner of my own practical joke," Foy told LancasterOnline ahead of the broadcast. He has also been featured in the Wall Street Journal and on NBC in recent years. Still, he frames the fame lightly: "To me, it's the same old, same old, just new people jumping on the bandwagon."

His favorite part, he says, remains the laughter and the smiles on kids' faces as he hands out potatoes. That porch moment—simple, slightly absurd, and stubbornly consistent—is why the story travels so well from a Lancaster sidewalk to a national daytime stage with Drew Barrymore.

Why does the Drew Barrymore segment matter for a local Halloween custom?

Daytime television can turn a neighborhood gag into a shared national joke without stripping the heart from it. Foy's cameo on The Drew Barrymore Show did exactly that: it named a place, a person, and a practice that has outlasted trends, platforms, and even the original Costco bag that started it all.

The timing also lined up with peak Halloween season. This year, the Idaho Potato Commission sponsored Foy's supply. He picked up more than 200 pounds of potatoes from Kegel's Produce on Thursday evening before trick-or-treat, with help visible in local photos that also showed Kenny Myers, Sue Myers, KJ Myers, and Kerek Myers alongside him.

If any potatoes are left over, Foy plans to donate them to the Lancaster Hub or the Water Street Mission. That detail rounds out the story: the same man known for a punchline handout is also thinking about where unused food can go next.

You can read LancasterOnline's full report, including the show clip context, in its feature WATCH: Here's what 'Drew Barrymore Show' guests say about Lancaster's 'Potato Man', and the advance notice in Lancaster's 'Potato Man' to be featured on 'Drew Barrymore Show' Friday.

How has national attention changed—or not changed—Pat Foy?

By Foy's own account, not much. Wall Street Journal ink, NBC airtime, and a Drew Barrymore Show mention are new names on an old routine. He still describes the work as "the same old, same old," and he still measures success in faces on North Pine Street rather than ratings.

That stance is part of why the story resonates in a nostalgia lane. Plenty of Halloween houses chase spectacle. Foy's bit is the opposite: a russet potato, a porch, a question, and more than 20 years of follow-through. When Anderson and the Drew Barrymore Show team handed potatoes to studio guests, they were briefly joining a line that Lancaster kids have been forming for a generation.

The microwave tutorial was a light TV flourish; the deeper hook is continuity. A craftsman who will miss his own segment because he has a job to do is still the guy neighbors call Potato Man. Second-generation trick-or-treaters are proof the joke landed long enough to become memory.

In an era when viral Halloween stunts burn bright and fade fast, Foy's tradition is the rare reverse: it stayed local until national shows came looking for it. Drew Barrymore's audience got the short version—potatoes, smiles, a kitchen tip. Lancaster already knew the long version, and it is still unfolding each October on North Pine Street.