LAWRENCE COUNTY Events to celebrate Italian heritage

Entertainers are coming from Reno, Nev., and Newark, N.J., for the celebration.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- If Marilyn Seech has her way, the grass and shrubs in Lawrence County will be red, white and green this summer.
President of the committee organizing the June 23 Lawrence County Italian Celebration, Seech wants residents to get excited about the event and start decorating their homes and businesses.
"We're challenging everybody in Lawrence County to dress up their homes in red, white and green," she said.
Some people have already promised to put out red, white and green lights on shrubbery and others are buying half-banners from Keystone Specialty on South Mill Street to hang on businesses and homes, she said.
The committee also is asking business owners to go all out, promising a plaque to the business district in the county that does the best job decorating, she said.
And to build excitement before the event, the committee is doing such things as honoring the area's oldest resident of Italian descent.
What's planned: Events for the daylong celebration are set with entertainers such as the Gaylords from Reno, Nev., and comedian "Uncle" Floyd Vivino from Newark, N.J.
Vendors selling only Italian food will be scattered through the park, and a children's activity area are planned.
An early breakfast will be cooked by the Ellwood City Wolves Club members, and honor guards from across the county will be featured in opening ceremonies, along with area church choirs.
Priests from four of the largest Catholic parishes in the county will celebrate an outdoor Catholic Mass.
Seech advises people to remember their lawn chairs. The park is outfitted with some benches, but not enough for the thousands of people expected to attend the celebration events, she said.
Organizers are hoping to attract people of Italian heritage from the entire region, she said.
She added that she is not concerned that there are several other Italian celebrations throughout the area each year.
"I think Italian people, they go to all of them. It's a day for them to go and hear different kinds of music and socialize," she said.