ENFIELD — Enfield’s Our Lady of Mt. Caramel Society is pulling out all the stops for its 100th annual Italian Festa, which takes place July 31 to Aug. 2.
This year’s three-day event includes homemade Italian food, a carnival, performances from local musicians, religious observations and special guest appearances from Deana Martin and Tony Orlando.
The Mt. Caramel Society was founded in 1926 by Italian immigrants that came to the Thompsonville section of Enfield.
“They came here, they were willing to work hard, they brought their culture, their faith in God and they wanted to be good Americans and their kids to be Americans, so they’d have opportunity,” Mt. Caramel Society President Carl Sferrazza said. “And they brought most of all, their faith in God, in this case the Blessed Mother, Our Lady of Mt. Caramel.”
Sferrazza added that there is a connection between current and former members because they were their parents, aunts and uncles.
“We carry forth their memory and the values that they brought to America 100 years, which is our faith in God, our love of the United States, a love of family and friends, our food and our music,” he said. “And those values were what they built their life upon, the foundation 100 years ago, and I’d like to think that today they’re not antiquated ideals, that we still continue today to honor them by living our life that way and I know they’d be proud of us.”
Sferrazza said people can look forward to homemade Italian food throughout the festival.
“All the food that we serve here, there are no food trucks, we won’t allow it. We want to control the quality of the food as well as the price,” he said. “We know that we are catering to our family and friends and residents, so all the food here is prepared in our kitchens upstairs by the members of
Mt. Caramel, so it’s not a food truck thing like the Big E. If I can brag a little bit, we are known for the quality of our Italian food.”
Sferrazza added that while attendees can expect traditional Italian food like spaghetti and meatballs, the society’s fried dough is “legendary.” For desserts, Sferrazza said people will be able to try food from “Cake Boss,” as the festival is partnering with Maurizio Belgiovine, the director of operations at Carlo’s Bakery.
The festival kicks off on Thursday, July 30, with a religious candlelight procession followed by free coffee, soda and Italian pastries.
On Friday, July 31, Johnny Six Guns will be performing and on Sunday, July 2, Brat Pack will be performing. Sferrazza said Saturday’s performance is the “pinnacle” with Martin’s appearance.
“Deana Martin, the daughter of Dean Martin, who performed here 2006 until 2016, every year, will be returning to perform that night. Those years that she was here, as a gesture of goodwill to Mt. Caramel, she always called on one of her celebrity friends,” he said.
Some of those celebrity friends include Mary Wilson, Bobby Rydell and Joe Piscopo. This year, Sferrazza said the celebrity friend is Tony Orlando, who is coming out of retirement for the festival.
Sferrazza said his wife suggested getting Martin to perform for the first time in 2006 after seeing she was going to perform at Foxwoods. He then picked up her book “Through my Father’s Eyes,” and found out that his favorite food was pasta fazool. His wife then made pasta fazool to bring to a meet and greet following her Foxwoods performance.
“I asked her if she’d come here and I explained that our resources are limited and her husband John stepped in and said it’s not always about the money it’s about relationships. As I was leaving, John says, ‘you know maybe some time we can come,’ and Deana said, ‘nope, we’re going this year,’” he said.
On Sunday morning, there will be an outdoor mass at 9 a.m.
“This particular mass, because it’s 100 years, will be celebrated by the archbishop of Hartford. The mass is a combination of a traditional mass, butsome of the readings are in Italian and it’s just a great opportunity for people to come and see,” he said.
Following the mass, the society will take the statue of the Blessed Mother and put it on a float and process with the float through the streets of Thompsonville. Alongside the procession, a Boston-based Italian marching band will perform.
While Sferrazza said Thompsonville initially was the Italian section of Enfield, he said the society continues the tradition in honor of the society’s founders and religious beliefs.
He added that preparations for the festival are done entirely by the members of the society.
“What you’ll see is, usually starting right after the Fourth of July, our members will get out of work, change into their clothes and come and we work together to make this happen,” he said.
Reflecting on the 100th anniversary, Sferrazza said he wanted to honor the society’s founders with the festival.
“It’s a celebration — not just of the current members — but we really want to pay homage and respect to our founders, pretty heroic people. Uneducated, but hard-working, brick layers, stone masons, carpenters, they left their country, they left their family behind to come to America, so their children could be Americans and have a better way of life,” he said. “I think they’d be pretty proud that 100 years have gone by and the seeds that they planted back in 1926 continue today.”
Sferrazza said the society is a 501c3 nonprofit and they give back to the community by allowing people to use its field as a town park, offering its hall for the town to use for ceremonies and events, hosting a dinner fundraiser for Wreaths Across America in Enfield and much more. The society also hosts a “Mt. Caramel style” pasta supper once a month.
“We’re very community oriented and that’s what we want to do is we want to be good neighbors and help all those different charities,” he said.
Everything the society does is catered to families.
“Coming into Mt. Caramel I feel that time stands still, it still feels like may the 1950s, 1960s, by design,” he said. “We all know the reality of our world today, but it’s a reprieve from what’s going on outside, and you come here and you see your neighbors or people you went to high school with, you get a folding chair, you sit in front of the band stand, you eat some great food, it’s local, it’s safe, everything we do here is catered for families.”
Sferrazza said the festival is an opportunity for the public and members of the society to celebrate the society’s values.
“It’s a very special place, certainly for me and for a lot of people that grew up in town. For the people that didn’t grow up in town it’s a great opportunity to come and try something here that’s a little different,” he said.
Tickets for the festival are $5 and children under 12 get in for free. The festival runs from 5-11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 5-10 p.m. on Sunday. Enfield’s Our Lady of Mt. Caramel Society is located at 93 Park Ave.
