ENFIELD — Enfield’s Mount Carmel Club will have its 98th Annual Italian Festival at 93 Park Avenue. Every year on the first Sunday in August, the club has a festival in honor of the Blessed Mother and celebrate their Italian heritage.
Admission is $3. Children under 12 are free. There’ll be live entertainment, a carnival and games every night as well as a full menu of Italian dishes such as ziti and meatballs, sausage grinders, Arancini (Italian rice balls), porchetta sandwiches with broccoli rabe, assorted Italian pastries and much more.
President Carl Sferrazza said, “The purpose of this festival is to pay tribute to the contributions of the Italian immigrants that came here 98 years ago in search of a better life for their children.”
Enfield’s Mount Carmel Club is a nonprofit Catholic Italian American social club celebrating family, faith and Italian heritage. It was founded in 1926 in the Thompsonville section of Enfield. It was originally founded to accommodate the influx of Italian immigrants that were moving here in the 20th century. Most of them immigrated from southern Italy in hopes that they could find a better life for their children. When they moved to Enfield, a lot of the immigrants didn’t speak English, so they all tended to live in the same area and ended up forming a social group called the Our Lady of the Mt. Carmel Society.
“It was very common back in Italy every village had a patron saint,” said Sferrazza. “They chose the Blessed Mother Our Lady of the Mt. Carmel and they bought some property at 93 Park as a place to go and socialize.”
The club will start the festival with a candlelight procession around the neighborhood on Thursday night Aug. 1 at 8 p.m. There’ll be a tent set up with all kinds of Italian desserts. Everything is complimentary and there’s no charge to the public. The festivities continue Friday, Aug. 2, 5-11 p.m. with live music from Brass Attack and Backstage Pass, Saturday, Aug. 3, 5-11 p.m. with live music from Cold Train and Johnny Sixgun. And on Sunday, Aug. 4, 5-10 p.m. with live music from Jenna Esposito, the Voice of Little Italy and a raffle drawing at 8 p.m. On Sunday morning at 9 a.m., the club will have Catholic Mass outdoors in front of their little chapel spoken in Italian. After Mass, they’ll take the statue of the Blessed Mother and march through the streets of Thompsonville with the Roma Band from Boston.
Sferrazza grew up in Thompsonville where the festival takes place. He told Reminder Publishing the memories he has as a young child in the early 60’s going to this festival with his parents, and all their contemporaries coming together and enjoying each other’s company stays with him. As he got older, Sferrazza became a police officer in the town of Enfield and served for almost 40 years. He was the chief of police for the last 12 years of his career and retired in March of 2018.
“For me this is home,” Sferrazza said. “The best part besides the memories is the people that I work with. The people at Mount Carmel, both the men and the Women’s Auxiliary. They are the most wonderful people to spend time with.” He continued, “It really is an important part of my life growing up and I’m very grateful to have the opportunity to continue this tradition. It’s a great night to come out, bring a lawn chair and have some of the best Italian food without breaking the bank.”
For more information, visit www.mtcarmelenfield.org. Follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
