Favored by fair weather, the Cellini Italian Festival 2012 opened last Wednesday and Thursday to large crowds happy to support the annual event at Michael J. Tully Park.
On Thursday night, people lined up for a new selection of rides from Big Ben’s Midway, which organizers hope will generate more interest among younger attending the five-day event.
Riders were filling the ferris wheel seats, parents were accompanying children on the carousel and prospective drivers were showing particular enthusiasm for the bumper car attraction that was a new addition to the mix this year.
The Generators provided a lively mix of pop tunes, performing well-rendered covers of Billy Joel, the Beatles and the B-52s on Thursday night to a receptive crowd.
“It’s looking good,” said Luigi Squillante, Cellini Lodge president.
Squillante is anticipating stronger results for this year’s fair after last year’s event was cut short by two days due to the tropical storm that swept through the area that weekend.
“The event’s great. As long as the people come and enjoy themselves that’s what it’s all about,” said Vincent Illuzzi, Cellini Lodge first vice president and chairman of the event.
The Cellini Italian festival carries on a tradition of 37 years of service by Sons of Italy Cellini Lodge #2206 of New Hyde Park.
Proceeds from the festival will help support Cellini Lodge Scholarships, Commission for Social Justice, Cooley’s Anemia, Alzheimer Research, the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism, the Marty Lyons Foundation, the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum, Gift of Sight Program OSIA, Italian Language and Culture and Italic Studies.
“We give to many other charities but these are the primary ones,” Squillante said.
They were seeing plenty of action at the Zeppole booth, strategically located near the entrance of the festival. People were also lining up for pasta – linguine or ziti – with red or white clam sauce.
Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman, a Cellini Lodge member, was dishing out the pasta and chatting with those who recognized him.
“It’s kind of cool to be the guy behind the counter,” Kaiman said. “I get to engage people that I deal with. It’s great to be able to help out and participate. It’s a wonderful community event, and the money I raise, a great idea of it goes to charity.”
Approximately 30,000 were expected to attend the festival. At press time, final numbers were not available.
Illuzzi said attendance was strong through the weekend, with a long line for the zeppoles most of the time.
“I think it went well,” he said. “Everybody seemed to be having a good tim
