October 1, 2008

Everyone loves a parade

Crowds clog Lincoln Avenue for parade, two-day Italian Festa

By Carol Rosen
Editor

For the second year in a row, Lincoln Avenue spent a September weekend crowded with people celebrating Willow Glen Founder’s Day and the Italian-American Festa.

Jay Schuurman, a member of the World Champions Pizza Team shows off his juggling and dancing talents with pizza dough.

There was little to no room on the sidewalks as the parade passed by filled with old cars and some new and very beautiful Ferraris. They watched as the San Jose Mounted Police marched by on their horses and a dinosaur crept down the avenue to many children’s delight. There also were bands and even a moving tree on the Our City Forest float. It was a great parade.

But that wasn’t all. After the parade, the large crowds spent time shopping at the numerous booths spread throughout Lincoln between Willow and Minnesota. Many of the more than 60 booths were Italian themed, but others offered interesting wares from jewelry to body scrubs and from purses made from gum wrappers to an assortment of treats including some outrageously good Italian food. And is there anyone that doesn’t love Italian food?

More booths graced the street this year and while many of them were Italian themed, a number with some that were not Italian were also there. One of them featured purses and change purses, all made from gum and candy wrappers, but looking nothing like that. The booth was run by Richard and Marilyn Ruvalcaba, owners of Eco Fashions out of San Francisco. The purses are made from folded gum wrappers by young men, aged 18-22, from a rehabilitation center in Mexico City.

The enticing smells of the food teased people to the booths where they could buy ravioli, spaghetti and meat balls, Italian sausage and peppers, linguine with clam sauce, pizza, fried calamari, lasagna, meat ball sandwiches, polenta, cannoli, sfigni, gelato, Italian beer and wine as well as tri-tip sandwiches and Kettle Korn.

Various stages set up on Lincoln also provided entertainment, from some beautiful opera to Frank Sinatra tunes and from accordions to an amazing pizza dough juggler from Santa Rosa. The entertainment continued throughout both days, featuring singers, dancers and other acts designed to please the more than 35,000 attending the two-day event.

The opera singers were not just beautiful, but their beautiful voices were heard up and down the street singing Puccini, Rosinni and other beautiful arias. Two—Nova and Susanna Jimenez are sisters-in-law and both grew up in the Bay Area; Nova in San Jose and Susanna in Castro Valley. The third member of the troop is their accompanist Shinobu Kameyama. The trio, which performs at folk festivals, jazz clubs and rock concerts, was named vocal group of the year at the 2007 Los Angeles Music Awards.

Marilyn Ruvalcaba shows off a purse made by young men in Mexico from gum and candy wrappers. The purses come in various colors and sizes from a change purse to larger bags with metal handles. Others are made from numerous colorful wrappers and some are all one color. All are made by young men in rehabilitation centers for Eco Fashions. Photo by Carol Rosen

Other stages featured Pasquale, Italica, Flashback, Dick Continio and others as well as World Champions Pizza Team member Jay Schuurman who dazzled the crowd while juggling and dancing with pizza dough.

There were some areas for children to play, and one featured rides on robotic dinosaurs. Shops along the Avenue also offered play areas for children, including the new Treehouse in the Glen, which attracted a number of kids of all ages both inside and outside.

The city of San Jose and the Italian American Heritage Foundation teamed up to ensure that this event was “green.” San Jose’s Green Vision Program, administered by city of San Jose Environmental Services Department, supplied all the eating utensils, drinking cups and paper goods. They also supplied all the recycling containers for the biodegradable and recycle materials. This was one of five festivals chosen for the program this year.

All proceeds from the Festa go to the Italian American Heritage Foundation Scholarship Fund to help send graduating high school seniors of Italian American descent to college. The two-day festival ended Sunday evening, and it appeared that everyone had a great time.

The 28th annual Italian American Heritage Foundation’s Italian Family Festa began in 1977 to honor the city of San Jose during its bicentennial celebration. One of the festival’s features is the pony-drawn San Jose Italian Festa Cart, which is covered with paintings and sculpture of San Jose history. The festival also includes a grape-stomping contest, children’s games, a Tarantella contest and dancing.

Saturday evening the Italian Festa was quite crowded with shoppers and people visiting the various stages for entertainment.