For the Sons of Italy Cellini Lodge #2206 in New Hyde Park, the annual Italian Festival at Michael J. Tully Park is a celebration of their Italian heritage, a community event and a tradition.
“The festival gives the community a safe place to come with their families and have fun,” said Cellini Lodge 1st Vice President Alfonso Squillante, who is overseeing this year’s festival. “It gives us an opportunity to show what the Sons of Italy is all about. It’s a very positive way of expressing what we want to bring to our community.”
The tradition of the festival, which began more than two decades ago, will continue on Aug. 13 through Aug. 17 at Michael J. Tully Park in New Hyde Park.
Squillante said an Indian-American man told him last year that he didn’t know about the contributions Italians had made to the U.S. before he visited the Italian Heritage booth manned by former Cellini Lodge President Jean Gailardo, who provides information and distributes brochures about Italian-American history.
“It really displays a positive image of what the Italians contributed and that, for me, is one of the biggest rewards of running this feast,” Squillante said.
Along with the Italian Heritage booth, this year’s festival will feature carnival rides, live bands and an international food court with a distinct Italian flavor, featuring zeppoles, pasta, pizza, cannolis and other pastries.
The festival, which is the Cellini Lodge’s biggest yearly fundraising event, helps support Cellini Lodge scholarships, the Commission for Social Justice, Cooley’s Anemia, Alzheimer research, the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism, the Marty Lyons Foundation, the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum, the Gift of Sight program OSIA, Italian Language and Culture and Italic studies.
This year, Squillante said, the lodge is adding the Wounded Warrior Project to the causes it supports.
The festival drew 12,000 people last year and raised $60,000 after expenses in what Squillante called a “banner year” for the festival.
But, he said, he’s still hoping the festival can produce bigger numbers this year.
“Every year we try to outdo what we did last year,” Squillante said.
Cellini officials have said most people who attend the festival are from New Hyde Park. They said the festival also draws people from Floral Park, Mineola and the Willistons, as well as Brooklyn.
The musicians set to play at this year’s festival are Head Over Heels on Wednesday, The Acchords on Thursday, Risky Business on Friday, Don Felice and The Bell’Airs. A live DJ will be playing music each weekend afternoon.
A fireworks display will be part of the entertainment on Saturday night with a rain date for Sunday, the festival’s final day.
This year’s festival features a selection of rides from Blue Sky Amusements, which has provided the rides at the festival in past years.
A ticket for all the festival rides will cost $30.
Festival-goers can obtain a $5 coupon on the Cellini Lodge Web site at www.cellinilodge2206.org/cellini for a discount.
More adult entertainment with Las Vegas games of chance, including black jack, will also be part of the festival
Admission is $1 every day except Sunday, designated as Community Appreciation Day, when admission is free and pasta is half price.
Festival hours will be 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Approximately 200 members of the 400-member Cellini Lodge will volunteer their time to man the booths at the festival.
The lodge promotes the festival in church bulletins.
Squillante credited Cellini Lodge member Denise Alsarone with helping to boost attendance through ads that aired for the first time on the Hofstra University radio station, WRHU and KJOY.
He said the radio ads are running again and Alsarone will also send out e-mail blasts and promote the festival on local websites.
Squillante said one change festival-goers will find this year is a more efficient system for getting their zeppoles, with a line in the food court to place orders and a separate area to pick up the orders.
“We’re trying to create less congestion around the zeppole booth,” Squillante said. “I think we have the best zeppoles in Nassau County.”
