Warren festival honors culture

By ED RUNYAN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

WARREN — Phil Sidoti says the 24th Annual Warren Italian American Festival beginning Thursday in downtown Warren helps second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-generation Italian-Americans embrace their culture and heritage.

But he and entertainment chairwoman Dolores Procopio are just as happy to see non-Italians come to Courthouse Square for four days of food, music and education because the events appeal to all nationalities, they say.

Procopio says she’s happy to report that in addition to Italian culinary favorites, the festival serves up one of the best egg sandwiches you’ll find anywhere.

Sidoti notes that Italians such as Da Vinci, Christopher Columbus, Joe DiMaggio, Frank Sinatra, Robert DeNiro, Danny DeVito and Al Pacino have left their mark on American society, just as Trumbull County has had a wide array of notable Italian-Americans.

For instance, the City of Warren has been led by an Italian mayor for 30 years, dating back to Dan Sferra’s 16 years, Henry Angelo’s eight years and Michael O’Brien’s (his mother is Italian) four years, Sidoti said.

And Warren has the oldest Italian-American festival in Ohio, Sidoti says. It has always been held in Courthouse Square.

Sidoti loves the fact that many families have used the annual festival as an occasion to hold a family reunion — both Italian and non-Italian.

For instance, many people plan to make their trip to visit relatives here at festival time.

This year, the festival features many of the events that have come to be expected, like performances of many returning bands, the bocce tournament, fireworks, and the Miss Italian Pageant and Tiny King and Queen Pageant.

But organizers hope to start a new tradition with the first Pasta Sauce Contest and a demonstration by Dr. Humphrey Germaniuk, the county’s forensic pathologist, of the Italian card game Scopa. His demonstration will be 2 p.m. Saturday.

Dr. Germaniuk went to college in Italy and speaks fluent Italian, Sidoti said.

Another demonstration that may be of interest this year in an area near the Courthouse Square water fountain will be some information on the regions in Italy where the ancestors of many of Trumbull County natives once lived: Sicily, Calabria, Lombardy and Abruzzo, for instance.

runyan@vindy.com