Youngstown's Mount Carmel fest caters to people

By WILLIAM K. ALCORN

alcorn@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The 19th annual Our Lady of Mount Carmel Italian Festival has something for everybody – food, entertainment and people-watching.

The festival, which opened Thursday with a Little Prince and Princess Pageant, runs from 5 to 11 p.m. today and Saturday and 1 to 10 p.m. Sunday on Via Mount Carmel, downtown.

The official opening ceremonies are from 7 to 8 p.m. today, when the Man of the Year, Woman of the Year, Lifetime Achievement Award and three $1,000 Youngstown State University scholarships will be awarded, said Frank Frattaroli, festival chairman.

“It’s is family-oriented. We cater to the people, with indoor restrooms, shelter from inclement weather in the social hall or a 1,000-seat tent, buses that transport people around the downtown area and golf carts that take festival-goers from parking lots to the festival area and back,” Frattaroli said.

Jim Loboy, 33 WYTV weatherman, was emcee of the Prince and Princess Pageant, chaired by Carmella Crump, which featured 15 girls and five boys, 4 to 9, and proved Art Linkletter’s contention that “kids say the darndest things.”

When asked if they had boyfriends or girlfriends, most of them answered with emphatic “no’s,” except a couple of the princess candidates who blushingly admitted they had boyfriends, and even named them.

Interestingly, their favorite subjects in school are technology, science, mathematics and reading. Not surprisingly, their favorite foods are spaghetti and pizza.

Named the Princess by a three-member panel of judges was Mia Tieche, 4, of Canfield. Chosen Prince was Gianni Tocco, 8, of Poland.

The festival is a great place for people-watching, said Anthony and Doreen Ghioldi of Austintown, who say they will attend the festival every night, and go to as many area Italian festivals as possible.

“I like the food and the beer and the people-watching,” said Anthony, a baker for Cornersburg Sparkle Market.

“We used to bring our kids, now we bring our grandkids,” said Doreen, a labor and delivery nurse at St. Elizabeth Boardman Hospital.