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Pepper growers turn up the heat in competition at fair
Schedule of Events
Today
Gates open at 8 a.m.
Reba McEntire: Grandstand, 8:30 p.m.
Catholic Worship Service: Youngstown Symphony Stage on Concourse, 8 a.m.
Worship Service: International Stage, 11 a.m.
Ecumenical Worship Service: Youngstown Symphony Stage on Concourse, 9:30 a.m.
Praise and Worship Service: Youngstown Symphony Stage on Concourse, 11 a.m.
Draft Horse Exhibitors: East Ring, 1 p.m.
Dress-A-Cow Contest: South Cattle Complex, 1 p.m.
Auction
4-H Dairy Cheese Auction: South Cattle Complex, 1:45 p.m.
Judging Schedule
Saddle Horse Championship: North Ring, 10 a.m.
Dog Demonstration: Coliseum 8, noon.
Sheep Shearing Demonstration: Sheep Barn 36, 12:30 p.m.
Poultry Junior Fair Showmanship: Coliseum 8, 1 p.m.
Leadline, Costume and Hitch Ponies: South Ring, 1 p.m.
Junior Fair Goat Show: Coliseum 8, 1 p.m.
Pocket Pet Breed: Coliseum 8, 3 p.m.
Wee Ones Showmanship: South Cattle Complex, 3:30 p.m.
Junior Fair/Farm Bureau “Ag in the Bag”: Junior Fair Pavilion, 4 p.m.
Junior Fair Rabbit Costume Class: Coliseum 8, 6 p.m.
MONDAY HIGHLIGHTS
Gates open at 8 a.m.
Blake Shelton with Chris Young: Grandstand, 8 p.m.
Open Draft Horse Pig Iron Derby: Grandstand, 8 a.m.
Harness Racing: Grandstand, noon.
4-H Saddle Horse Show: North Ring, 9 a.m.
Rooster Crowing Contest: South Ring, 9:30 a.m.
CANFIELD
Fairgoers who walk through the Grange Building can’t miss the tall pepper plants.
This year, three pepper plants are on view, each with a blue ribbon dangling from its stalk. The competition is dominated by Michael Lacivita, 87, and Norm Cappitte, 70, both of Youngstown’s West Side and both determined to best the other.
Craig Myers, fair director of the grange competitions, said the peppers are different breeds and are entered in the rarities and oddities division.
“For a pepper plant to be that large, it’s just something to show and tell,” Myers said.
Myers said occasionally more than one blue ribbon will be awarded in some of the grange divisions.
“If both are experts and both have done very well with the end product, at that point, it’s hard to choose,” he said.
This is Lacivita’s seventh-consecutive blue ribbon in the category. He first grew peppers with his dad, Giovanni Lacivita, 80 years ago during the Great Depression. For the last 18 years, he’s grown LaParie peppers.
Lacivita said he thrives on contests.
“You’re not going to beat me. I lived through the Great Depression, and I’m part of the Greatest Generation. I love the competition,” he said.
He uses potting mix, Vigoro or Miracle Grow, lime and regular hydration to grow the plants. His grandsons, Jeffrey Vicarel and Patrick Krieger, also have entered pepper plants. Vicarel earned a blue ribbon this year for a “Team Lacivita” pepper plant.
For Cappitte, growing also is a family affair. He has been gardening for 25 years and gets help from his three sons, Norm Jr., Greg and Vince. This year, Cappitte won blue ribbons for his pepper plant, the plate of five peppers and the Italian fryer.
“I do it for a hobby,” he said. “I just love the earth.”
Cappitte waters his plants every day with rain that he collects in barrels in his yard and doesn’t use any chemicals.
“There’s no secret. Just look at the woods and how everything grows,” he said, adding he even collects his neighbors’ leaves in the fall to use as compost.
“Anything Dad puts in the ground grows and grows big,” Greg said.
Cappitte said he was inspired to enter the rarities and oddities category after seeing Lacivita’s plants. He said he was surprised by what he felt was animosity from Lacivita after entering.
“I just want to make peace with him,” he said.
Lacivita maintains that he simply is a competitor.
Whatever the case, the two remain rivals. Propped against Lacivita’s pepper plants is a sign with a how-to-grow list signed by “Michael Lacivita ‘The Pepper Man’ (King).”
A few days later, a sign was taped to Cappitte’s plant with the words “Norm Cappitte” and “organic” printed neatly on it.