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TONY TROLIO Promoter left mark on city’s festivals
By Guy D’Astolfo
POLAND
Tony Trolio died suddenly last week but his entertainment legacy will live on.
The Youngstown native founded the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Italian festival 16 years ago and chaired it every year.
He also served as chairman of the Greater Youngstown Italian Fest in its early days, and had been involved with the Brier Hill Festival as entertainment chairman, and later, as a vendor.
Trolio died Friday of cancer after having been diagnosed just two weeks ago, said his daughter, Sherry Ann Trolio-DiVito of Poland.
DiVito has been running Trolio’s Original T-Shirts, the shop her father founded, for more than a decade and will continue to do so.
“Technically, he retired in 2002 but still came to work at the shop every day,” she said of her father. “That was my dad.”
He had been in poor health in recent years, she said.
Trolio also ran Ciao Promotions, which specialized in Italian-style dinner-shows and banquets. DiVito isn’t sure just yet if she will take over that business.
The Rev. Msgr. Michael J. Cariglio of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church had praise for Trolio’s strong devotion to his family and his church.
“[Trolio] came to me 16 years ago about doing a festival to celebrate our faith and Italian heritage,” said Msgr. Cariglio.
“He would travel to other Italian festivals, as far as Chicago and New York, to see how they did it, and would bring back the best elements. He made sure it had a very strong family model, something families could enjoy.”
Msgr. Cariglio wasn’t prepared to talk about the future of the festival. “After a period of mourning we will see about it,” he said. “Tony raised the festival to a high level of credibility and I’m sure it will keep going.”
Msgr. Cariglio said Trolio will be remembered for being pleasant and warm, and also for his leadership capability.
Claire Maluso, chairman of the Brier Hill Italian Festival, knew Trolio since he was in grade school and worked with him there and at the Mount Carmel event.
“He loved the Brier Hill neighborhood, which he came from,” she said. “And he was always ambitious. He never stopped working, right to the end. He set a pace for whoever will succeed him, but nobody can replace him.”