Over the weekend, despite the somber mood of the 10th anniversary of September 11, residents from Glendale and Ridgewood celebrated Italian culture at the Italian Street festival.
The festival, which has been held for 16 years, is organized by Gino Dolce, who is the Vice Chairman of the festival. It was on Fresh Pond Road between Menahan and Woodbine streets.
Dolce said that the main point of the festival is to maintain Italian culture and give local residents somewhere fun to go on the weekend.
“It keeps everybody together,” Dolce said.
Although the diversity of the neighborhood has changed, from a predominately Italian area to a melting pot of many different cultures, the festival still remains Italian orientated. This is especially noticeable in the food offerings with many Italian sausage and zeppole stands lining the festival.
Mike Bymm, who has lived in the area for 20 years, has noticed the shift in neighborhood diversity, but it doesn’t affect how much he enjoys attending the yearly festival.
“Back in the day it was mostly Italians,” said Bymm, who was with his two sons, Anthony, 7, and Nicholas, 5. “But the food is always good, that’s the best part about it.”
Kiri Vargas, who lives on Madison Street in Glendale, says that the festival has a safer feel to it now than it did years ago. Vargas said that he saw a lot of fights break out at the festival before, mostly due to the “thugs.” For Vargas, it’s friendlier to families now.
“It’s better for the kids,” Vargas said.
There was a slight controversy on Sunday, the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Vargas and others were surprised to find that there wasn’t more done to honor the day and the people who died during World Trade Center attacks.
According to Dolce, there was a planned moment of silence sometime during the festival to honor the 9/11 victims.
But Vargas said that something should have been done earlier in the day so that people who leave early can honor 9/11 as well.
“Not everyone that’s here now will be here later,” Vargas said.
Bymm said that it was nice that the festival got a good turnout on Sunday, considering the somber mood of the day. He said that watching all the 9/11 coverage on television can be depressing so going to the feast allows him to take his mind off of the events.
“I was watching some TV this morning and it gets to you, you know?,” Bymm said.
By Luis Gronda
