Sharing a culture
If you’ve been craving homemade pasta and gelato, there’s no need to book a flight to Italy. Kootenai County Fairgrounds will be home to North Idaho’s first Italian festival next Saturday and Oct. 9 to celebrate the food and culture of Italy. Festa Italiana is sponsored by the Bonaventura Lodge of the Order Sons of Italy, the oldest and largest association of Americans of Italian descent in the United States. The national organization seeks to promote and preserve Italian heritage and customs and is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.
Bonaventura Lodge, the North Idaho chapter, is less than two years old and was created out of a desire of its founding members to stay closer to home. Tina-Marie Schultz of Post Falls grew tired of the drive to Spokane for the nearest Sons of Italy meetings. She carpooled for several years with another member, Margaret Davide, until one day they agreed they could do without the commute. Schultz called the regional office and they told her to expect three to six months for recruiting the 25 members needed to open as a new lodge.
“I said I’d have it in two weeks,” Schultz said. “I really didn’t have that kind of time.”
Schultz didn’t want the idea to lose momentum. She put out blurbs in newspapers and church bulletins and recruited friends, whether they were of Italian heritage or not. Within weeks she was able to forge ahead with 49 charter members. Schultz is the group’s president and Davide is vice president for the lodge, which is now 65 members strong.
Schultz’s mother was born and raised in Sicily as were her father’s parents. When she was 11 her father asked to be stationed in Italy for military service, so Schultz spent several years living abroad, where she became acquainted with the Italian language and her many relatives. She enrolled in the same school that her mother attended as a child.
The rest of Schultz’s childhood was spent in Elizabeth, N.J., where city blocks were categorized by ethnic groups. She lived seven blocks away from the Italian neighborhood and would spend Saturday mornings in its open markets. The Italians gave her an appreciation for fresh daily produce while Polish ladies taught her to make pirogies and babka bread. Cultural celebrations were frequent and often centered on a Catholic saint.
“The festivals were open to everybody and everybody would go,” she said. “It was a sense of community.”
Schultz brought this love of culture with her when she moved to North Idaho 25 years ago and was pleased to find that plenty of Italian Americans settled in the Pacific Northwest. Besides socializing and sharing recipes, the monthly lodge meetings allow members to swap stories and tips on traveling to Italy. Some members are working on genealogy and Schultz has helped translate letters from long-lost relatives.
The group meets at St. Georges Catholic Church on the first Friday of every month at 6 p.m. and begins with a potluck supper. Schultz believes this led to her finding the best eggplant parmigiana recipe around. The food draws in new members and keeps them there, she said. Voting members and officers must be of Italian heritage, but anyone can join.
“Several folks have not a drop of Italian blood, but they’re there every month,” Schultz said.
Marj Hopkins has been with the group from the beginning, despite the fact that she is of Irish and German descent. She enjoys the camaraderie of her Italian American friends and appreciates the food.
“There are a lot of great cooks,” Hopkins said.
She’s taken instruction from some and helped make the biscotti that will be sold at the fairgrounds. Hopkins is a professional disc jockey and karaoke hostess who normally serves up music at lodge events instead of recipes. She took on the task of entertainment chair and lined up performers for the festival, including clowns, dancers, opera singers and magicians. There will be carnival rides and a wine and beer garden will feature Italian beverages.
Teams of three will participate in a Lucille Ball-style grape stomp contest. Hands-on art projects for children will expose them to the style of Italian artists like Michelangelo, and a karaoke contest will highlight the tunes of Italian-American singers like Frank Sinatra and Billy Joel.
Schultz hopes that by sharing flavors, sights and sounds of Italy it will spotlight some of the contributions from Italian-Americans and challenge stereotypes.
“Not all Italians are gangsters and there’s more to Italians than ‘The Sopranos,’ ” she said.
Funds raised from the event will go toward high-school student scholarships and grants for teachers. Despite the months of work needed to organize the event, Schultz predicts that Festa Italiana will be the first of many annual Italian festivals for North Idaho.
“I wanted to share the Italian culture and heritage with everybody so that people can enjoy it as much as I do,” Schultz said. “We’ll take a week off and start for next year.”