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Our Lady of Mount Carmel Italian Festival celebrates Italian heritage
By Sean Barron
YOUNGSTOWN
Dan Cipriano enjoyed lots of Italian food during a trip to Italy and, most recently, at a longtime area festival.
Sandwiched in between was the business of having won a $1,000 scholarship.
“I just love handicapped kids. It’s a joy to work with them,” the 2015 Poland Seminary High School graduate said Friday, referring to the type of career he hopes to pursue after majoring in special education at Youngstown State University.
His higher-education plans received the financial boost thanks to his having been one of three scholarship recipients during the 17th annual Our Lady of Mount Carmel Italian Festival at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Basilica Church, 343 Via Mount Carmel near downtown Youngstown.
The four-day event, which kicked off Thursday, continues from 5 to 11 p.m. today and 1 to 10 p.m. Sunday at the church and social hall. Admission is $4 for adults and free for children under 12.
Fourteen food vendors and 10 to 12 craft vendors make up this year’s event, which aims to celebrate Italian traditions, heritage and culture, noted Joyce Frattaroli, who, along with her husband, Frank Frattaroli, chairs the festival.
Cipriano is a lifelong Our Lady of Mount Carmel church member who has served in several capacities, including having assisted with the festival. His scholarship was based mainly on grades as well as church and community work, Cipriano said, adding that he was in Italy when he learned he had been selected as one of the winners.
On Friday, many attendees lined up for the usual fare of elephant ears, kettle corn, funnel cakes, lemon shakes, pizza, french fries, pastries and floats. Others enjoyed traditional Italian meals such as sausage and beef sandwiches, cavatelli and meatballs, bruschetta, fried greens and meatball splashes.
In addition, festivalgoers with a sweet tooth probably found at least one of about 20 kinds of fudge to their liking.
Those who wanted to add slightly nontraditional peppers to their meals likely found Dino Martin helpful.
“Our peppers have taken off locally in restaurants as appetizers,” explained Martin, who owns Bowling Green-based Monteleone Foods Ltd. with his wife, Susanne Martin. “We decided we should bottle and sell them.”
The business’s peppers have no vinegar and mainly are made with oil and garlic, said Martin, a 1986 Ursuline High School graduate who lives in Toledo. At the fest, he was selling mild, medium, hot and sun-dried-tomato varities.
The recipes are far from new, however. Martin’s 90-year-old mother, Connie Martin of Cornersburg, got them from a relative, tweaked the foods a bit and prepared them for many friends and family members, he recalled.
Decades later, the peppers continue to resonate with many Mahoning Valley residents and are steeped in local tradition, Martin continued.
“I’ve lived in Toledo for 15 years, and this is a Youngstown thing, and I’m happy to be from that,” he said.
In addition to the many foods, the festival offers plenty of entertainment. Today’s lineup includes Italian music courtesy of Mirella the Musician, a vocalist and keyboardist from Pittsburgh; the Cavalieri Reale Band, a Cleveland-based Italian-American quartet that formed nearly 35 years ago; and singer Gianna Monti of Naples, Italy.
On Sunday, attendees can look forward to a drawing from an auction that featured about 300 donated gifts, said Joyce Frattaroli, the event’s chairwoman. Also, former lightweight boxing champion Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini will be the main feature of a dunking booth around 2 p.m., she continued.
Youngsters also had plenty to do, including pony rides, an inflatable house and other games and activities. One vendor sold a variety of hair bows for children.