The Italian-American Festival at Clute Park in Watkins Glen, NY begins tomorrow, August 5th, and goes to the 7th. I’ll be there, but if you’re going intending to find yourself sipping limoncello to the sounds of traditional Italian music, think again… The only thing that seems to fit the Italian-American theme of this festival is the color scheme of the event website.
It appears they just need an excuse to have a festival – which is fine with me – but why call it the Italian-American festival? Well there’s a pasta eating contest at some point, and on Saturday morning there’s a bocce ball tournament. However, I don’t recall my Italian grandparents playing LAZAR tag, listening to rockabilly, or having Tae Kwan Do exhibitions. There are plenty of food vendors, so maybe one of them will have good meatballs.
The sound stage lists bands that play classic rock, blues, and rockabilly… They have the American part of the festival covered but maybe they should have at least booked a mediocre Frank Sinatra impersonator (get me a karaoke machine and I’ll bust out some “New York New York”). The events I see listed don’t seem very Italian: fireworks, bingo, a parade with bagpipes, a skateboarding / roller blade / bike competition, a “Motorcycle Extravaganza” and previously mentioned LAZAR tag and Tae Kwan Do. …Who planned this thing? There is one event on Saturday that manages to celebrate Italian heritage, and that’s the “Roman Catholic Mass for the Deceased.” Sounds fun!…
Really? No one thought to pick up some gelato from Wegmans? No youth soccer tournament with Italian jerseys vs American jerseys? No opera on the “sound stage?” So it seems they forgot the “Italian” part of the Italian-American Festival; no biggie. Maybe I’ll smuggle some Chianti Classico into the beer garden and then hit up the tilt-a-whirl. Or perhaps the entire festival is an elaborate / ironic statement about the Americanization of European culture… Anyway, other than the apparent lack of sticking to their theme – and to be fair I haven’t been to this festival before, so maybe I’m missing something – there are amusement rides, a beer garden, food, and music, so it’ll likely turn out to be a good time none the less.
Myles Lasco
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