LEOMINSTER – Downtown will be awash in green, white, and red for a family friendly festival slated for Aug. 5 that is being billed as Italian Night in Leominster.
The entire community is invited to the event that will go from 5 to 8 p.m. and feature fun activities for all ages, authentic entertainment by Ambrosiani!, Providence, Rhode Island’s premiere Italian American band, and delicious Italian cuisine and festival foods such as eggplant and chicken parm, sausage and peppers, homemade hand pies, pork sandwiches, fried dough, fried ravioli, tiramisu, cannoli, gelato, Italian cookies, pizza, beer and wine, and more.
Local vendors and participants include Brady’s, Candy Shack, Classics, Columbia Tavern, Il Camino, Finicky Fork, Fitchburg State University’s Center for Italian Culture, Italian Cookie, Joey Cannoli, Main Street Gift & Cafe, Moe’s Sweet Eats, Roasted Peppers, Simply Sweet, Sons and Daughters of Italy in America Lodge 169, Tavern 13, Wyman’s Liquors, and Ed Cronin from the Italian Student Exchange Program.
The Premier sponsor of the event is Lisciotti Development, Gold sponsor is The Napoli Family, Silver sponsor Liberty Rental, and Bronze sponsors are AIS, The Bisol Family, Gaylord Pallet, Main Street Gift & Café, Mayor Dean Mazzarella and U-Haul.
Mazzarella and several fellow Italians are involved in planning the festival, including festival committee chair Hank Lisciotti. Lisciotti has a rich Italian heritage, has visited the country and relatives there at least 20 times, and has been a dual citizen for 25 years. All four of his grandparents come from four villages in Italy that are within 15 miles of each other and they immigrated to Leominster.
“We want to present to the people of Leominster the Italian culture and tradition that has been here since the 1920s when Italians immigrated here,” Lisciotti said of the inspiration behind the festival. “We are proud of our heritage; the younger generation doesn’t know the heritage. This is not an unusual event, there are festivals all over Italy. We want to get people together and have fun.”
Lisciotti, who was born and raised in Leominster, said that if the festival “is successful we plan to do it every year.”
He spoke about the Italian festivals St. Anna’s Parish in Leominster had for 70 years and how they are hoping to bring back that same kind of festive vibe.
“We miss those kinds of events,” he said.
The city used to have eight Italian social clubs, Lisciotti said, each one speaking different dialects of the language and representing different regions in Italy, but “in the 80s and 90s they dried up.”
“My grandparents spoke to us in English because they wanted to assimilate,” Lisciotti said. “I took Italian in high school so I can get by.”
Sons and Daughters of Italy in America Lodge 169 President Sylvia Pacetti-Poirier is also excited to celebrate her family’s heritage at the festival. Her mom came over from Italy through Ellis Island in New York City when she was seven and learned to speak English in kindergarten.
Pacetti-Poirier’s family settled in Fitchburg, where she grew up and attended school. She has now called Lunenburg home for 30 years and said she and the other lodge members are “looking forward to being together with the community and showcasing Italian music and food and having a good time.”
Lodge 169 is a filial lodge that falls under the state grand lodge.
Pacetti-Poirier said they support a lot of charities, welcome new members and want to remind people that you don’t have to be Italian to join, “just celebrate the culture.” Anyone interested is welcome to come by one of their meetings, which are held the third Monday of each month at 6 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus on Electric Avenue in Fitchburg.
“There are so many historical accomplishments by Italians and Italian Americans that we celebrate,” Pacetti-Poirier said. “Our motto is liberty, equality, and fraternity.”
She said she enjoys going to “all kinds of cultural celebrations” and feels that “we should celebrate all cultures.”
“I embrace everybody.”
Mazzarella had similar thoughts and said the city would like to do more festivals like this that celebrate the “many different cultures and ethnicities we have here.”
“It would be wonderful to have these year-round, we are hoping this is the beginning of more,” he said before mentioning an “awesome” Haitian festival that was held in the city.
“We’re trying to get more groups together,” he said. “If we can do the same thing, we can have other festivals.”
Mazzarella’s mother’s side of the family hails from Alvito in southern Italy and his dad’s family from Avellino in northern Italy. Both of his parents were born here and when asked if his energetic 94-year-old mother Ida Mazzarella would be at the festival he said, “she wouldn’t miss it.”
He also reminisced about the “big festivals” at St. Anna’s and that it will be “a nice tradition to bring back.”
He said there will be a whole section of handicapped and accessible parking right between the two churches downtown so people can “walk right into the festival” and that there will be “lots of volunteers helping out.
Mazzarella spoke about the renovations planned for Monument Square, which is host to a plethora of year-round city activities and events including the upcoming MASSive Craft Beer Garden on Saturday, Aug. 12 from 3 to 7 p.m. and the 7th annual Cannoli Festival on Oct. 9 from 5 to 9 p.m.
He said they will be leveling off the ground at the downtown space and upgrading the power and more “to make it more user friendly,” a project that is slated to begin the day after the 30th annual Johnny Appleseed Festival on Sept. 30 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“Part of why we’re doing renovations to the common is to be able to do more things like this,” he said of the Italian Festival.
