Sunday, September 11, 2016

Italian For A Day

The Festival Italiano at Belmar took place on September 10 and 11, 2016. I have never attended this festival but I decided to drive to Belmar and see how Italians celebrate. Flags galore flapped over the fifty-eight booths. I know there were fifty-eight because that's what the calendar of events listed. As I walked around I saw booths of delicious looking food, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, ices and gelatos, t-shirts, colorful dishes, Bocce games and anything Italian one could imagine! I thought I heard Spanish being spoken but no, it was Italian.

The display of food made my mouth water and I took pictures of the ones I found to be interesting.



I saw flags on poles flying and men dressed in tights and joined the crowd to see Gli Sbandieratori,  the Flag Throwers from Florence, Italy as they performed. Two snare drummers and one trumpet made spectators take notice.  It was scary to the large flags flung twenty feet and then catch the flagged pole as they came down.


The Bocce games were being played by men and women. A tiny ball is tossed onto the green lane. Everybody then tries to come as close as they can to the small ball. If two or more are close, a measuring tape is brought to check who is closer. I am sure there is much more to the game, but this is what a Bocce man told me.
Two stages on opposite ends had continuous musical entertainment and I listened to a man sing love ballads. Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra songs were popular along with other Italian singers, bands, and orchestra. I suppose one could go to the festival and just sit from ten-fifteen until eight and listen to the different singers and groups. The sausage man, the chalk artist and the beautiful dishes makes Festival Italiano a fun thing to do!




I have saved the best to last. As I wandered around I saw a booth with Capuchin priest advertising a trip to Rome. I started to go ever to see how to enter when firemen hunks appeared before my eyes.
I think it is too bad that the Capuchin's are next to the Calendar Firemen because I noticed everyone was going over to see the golden firemen with tight bodies, me included, while guy in the brown robe did not get too much attention!

The end of a fun day at the Festival Italiano at Belmar

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