Italian Days keep heritage alive in Butler
On Aug. 28 and 29, Butler Italian Days will reemerge for its second year of food, vendors, live music and entertainment, marking the event as a countywide celebration of Italian culture and heritage.
The festival is hosted by Butler’s Sons and Daughters of Italy Lodge 1664, the oldest and largest national organization for people of Italian heritage in the United States. This year’s festivities will include a first-time Kids Corner featuring a petting zoo on Friday and free mini golf on Saturday. Children can also participate in the free crafts offered all weekend along with games and other activities.
In honor of Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals, the Kids Corner will accept donations of dry and canned pet food and other supplies to benefit the Butler Humane Society.
Festival goers can also enjoy all-day bingo on Saturday, running from noon to 6 p.m., at the Sons and Daughters of Italy Lodge on South Main Street. A winner-take-all jackpot will be announced at 5:30 p.m.
Over the course of the two-day festival, a bocce ball tournament will be held in the NexTier Bank parking lot near Diamond Park. The first round of qualifying games will be played on Friday night. Remaining qualifying round games and a championship game will be played Saturday.
Festival participants are encouraged to register their teams of four at the Butler Italian Days website or by calling Charmaine Fetterman at 724-968-0198. Proceeds for the tournament will benefit Butler High School’s unified bocce and track teams.
Live music performances are expected to start Friday at 5 p.m. and run through Saturday at 10 p.m. Festival visitors can enjoy the opening act, Frankie Russo with Mr. Furley, in front of the Sons and Daughters of Italy Lodge.
The concert will be followed by Tom Panei and MindsI at 7:30 p.m. to close out the evening at 10 p.m. On Saturday, the following performers will take the main stage: Mirella the Musician from 3 to 5 p.m., the Cavaliers from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., and the Flashback from 8 to 10 p.m.
Before these Saturday performances, accordionist Pat Septak will promenade the streets, and The Joe and Jackie Show will hold a polka concert from noon to 1 p.m. inside the Butler County Symphony building.
The festival, which will also host up to 80 returning food, beverage and shopping vendors, is expected to draw an even larger crowd than the 5,000 who visited Butler Italian Days last year. However, despite the overwhelming success and participation that the event has attracted in such a short time, Butler Italian Days has always been a close-knit family affair.
Charmaine Fetterman, a festival organizer and longtime member of Butler’s Sons and Daughters of Italy Lodge 1664, and current club president Kelly Mazzanti, who has orchestrated much of the festival, have their hands in nearly every aspect of planning and organizing the event.
Fetterman said her gardening, catering and cooking are also an important part of her personal participation and experience.
Alongside the other vendors, Fetterman’s own Bellissimo Catering will also be making its reappearance with its homemade Italian fare. Menu items include stuffed banana peppers, gnocchi and Arancini — rice balls that are stuffed, hand-breaded, and deep-fried.
Each of Fetterman’s carefully crafted menu items is inspired by members of her Italian Catholic family. Her homemade sauce is prepared from her grandmother’s recipe, while her from-scratch gnocchi is made from her Aunt Roe’s recipe.
“It means the world to cook these things because they are my grandmother Kate’s. They are my aunt’s. It’s hard to put into words, but the opportunity to make them proud means the world.”
Meanwhile, Fetterman’s garden, which grows the peppers, tomatoes and eggplants she incorporates into her dishes, connects her to her father, a former president of the Sons and Daughters of Italy. Fetterman began transforming her city backyard into a garden during COVID-19 as a way to meaningfully produce her own vegetables and to carry on her father’s tradition of gardening for his family.
“During that time, I took the challenge to begin growing my own produce in my little city yard,” she said with a laugh. “I joke now that I am an urban farmer.”
When Fetterman was faced with planning Butler Italian Days for the first time, she added that her father was also a critical motivator for her. “At the time none of us knew what we were doing,” she stated. “There were so many hoops to jump through. By the time we got permits and everything, we only had a couple of months to plan. But my father was the big push I needed. He kept telling me, ‘You can do this.’”
Fetterman also attributes much of the festival’s success to her late Uncle Gordan and to U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16th, who were childhood best friends. Since her uncle’s passing, Fetterman said Kelly has stepped up as a leading sponsor of Butler Italian Days to honor his memory.
His support, she added, has helped transform Butler Italian Days from a vision to the thriving celebration that it is today.
“Ultimately, we took a shot and it took off,” Fetterman said. “We said, ‘let’s try it,’ but today the energy and excitement of this one weekend is amazing. It’s become a real community. And we’re hoping to keep this family growing.”
