Festa Italiana makes all downtown Wooster Italian for a day
By Tami Lange
August 15, 2012
520
Barb Geiser says shes going to be writing a lot of thank-you notes in the wake of a very successful Festa Italiana in downtown Wooster.
Geiser, who chaired the event committee along with Mary Lou Kerr and Kathy Costello, said working toward and executing the biennial event left her tired. It was a lot of work, she said, but it was a very positive experience.
A few of the highlights:
Two people went into the Italian Heritage booth, where persons of local Italian heritage could put a sticker on their family of origin. The two people entered the booth at the same time, signed their stickers and headed for the same family. Turns out, Geiser said, they were cousins who had not seen each other for years.
Nineteen different local Italian-American octogenarians (or older) were recognized at the event. And there were none that werent in tears, according to Geiser. The heritage booth, she added, was busy well into the evening.
The childrens area saw between 800-1,000 come through throughout the event and 120 volunteers came from all over Wayne County to make sure things went off without a hitch. That number, Geiser said, doesnt include all the people who made their best Italian dishes for the bake sale.
It is all for a good cause, since proceeds from the Festa fund scholarships administered by Amici Italiana, the nonprofit that oversees the Festa and other fundraisers that support it.
The biggest moneymaker, Geiser noted, was the raffle for a trip to Italy (or to another destination of roughly the same travel value). The winner was Peggy Lewis – who bought just one ticket. Its not how much beer you can sell in the beer wagon, Geiser said. Its stuff like the raffle and the heritage booth and the music and the many vendors who draw the crowds to the event.
Her term is over, so Geiser and her fellow chairs, Costello and Kerr, can relax, sort of. Theres still a wrap up meeting and more than 200 thank-you notes to write. Whether the committee decides to keep Festa Italiana an every-other-year event will be up to them. In the meantime, Geiser is ready to finish up and let the next chairpeople take over. Shes happy, she said, but Im tired.
