VERO BEACH — The smells of peppers, onion, garlic and tomato waft through the air as a performer takes to the stage, channeling the likes of Frank Sinatra. They line up to buy tickets, anxiously looking over the menu to determine what they’ll try this year at the 27th Annual Italian Food Festival held at the Italian American Civic Association in Vero Beach.
“I come every year,” said Italian Dory Leshe-Brant, who brought her husband, John Brant, daughter, Lilly Leshe, and Lilly’s friend, Payton. “We like to eat.”
The three-day event continues Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the association’s building, located at 1600 25th St.
Leshe-Brant said that while Italian dishes grace their dinner table about twice a week, the items she was trying at the festival are ones she doesn’t make.
For instance, Leshe-Brant doesn’t make escarole and beans – which she tried at the festival.
“It was delicious,” she said.
For Brant, the family came for the food but was sticking around to mix and mingle with the people.
“The camaraderie is what’s best,” he said of the festival.
Co-Chair of the Italian Food Festival Bill Conforti said Saturday that attendance was about on par with the year before and expressed hope that the weather Sunday would hold to allow even more people to attend.
“I expect it to be pretty busy,” he said of Saturday night, which, if like Friday, would be so packed, people would find it difficult to walk, much less find a seat. He encourages attendees to be patient.
The festival has continued to grow year after year and is at the point that the Italian American Civic Association’s site is hard pressed to handle the crowds.
“They won’t move it out of here,” Conforti said of the possibility of relocating the festival to a larger venue. He said people prefer the more homey atmosphere the clubhouse provides to that of, say, the fairgrounds.
To prepare for this year’s festival, volunteers formed 4,000 meatballs and expect to go through 500 pounds of Parmesan cheese, 300 pounds of sausage, 650 pounds of meat and 70 cases of tomatoes. Just how much garlic and onion the club would go through was not known – other than “a lot,” according to the kitchen manager Peter Budelli. The crew will go through about 120 pounds of pasta, serve 1,800 creampuffs and an untold number of Zeppoli.
“Very little” is left over by the time the event ends, according to Conforti.
Returning to the menu after last year’s absence is seafood, Conforti said.
“People were asking for it,” he said.
Of the seafood dishes being offered, shrimp scampi seemed to be the most popular, he added.
As for the overall most popular dish, Conforti said it’s difficult to know.
“It’s hard to say,” he said, adding that both the lasagna and sausage and peppers are crowd pleasers and the “Zeppoli is always popular.”
Last year, though, the association sold out of eggplant parmesan before the end of the event, if that’s any indication.
Roseann Vassello brought her boyfriend, Rich Reinsmith, and her mother, Anna Benson, out to the festival Saturday to sample the Italian food and people-watch.
“We enjoy it,” Vassello said, noting she comes to the festival every year.
Her grandparents, Benson’s parents, hail from Italy, so Italian food is something they know a thing or two about.
“When you’re Italian, we cook Italian,” Vassello said. “Eating out is tough.”
She examined the menu for several minutes before deciding she would have the Pizza Fritta.
“It’s traditional,” she said of the dish, which is common at Italian festivals.
Benson, however, opted to play it safe and elected to go with the cheese pizza.
As for Reinsmith – who is of German and Irish descent – he planned to try to calamari. He is an honorary Italian, having been married to two Italian women during the course of his life.
“They were good cooks,” he said. “I love Italians. They know how to have fun.”
To keep the festival running smoothly, the association relies on help from about 300 volunteers over the course of the three-day event.
“We always need a lot of volunteers,” Conforti said. “You can’t be everywhere.”
The Italian Food Festival serves as a fundraiser for the organization, which then uses those funds to continue its community service mission by awarding scholarships to high school and charter high school students and providing support to other non-profit groups in the community.
“If we can do it, we do it,” Conforti said of assisting other organizations.
The association is always looking for new members, according to Conforti, who explained that members need not prove or claim Italian ancestry to be a member.
For more information about the Italian American Civic Association, call the organization at (772) 778-1522 or visit the clubhouse, 1600 25th St., Vero Beach.
