My favorite festival of the year is happening RIGHT NOW!!!!! Our Lady of Mount Carmel West is the most authentic Italian Festival complete with an authentic Italian procession of Saints. The entire purpose of the festival is to honor the Blessed Mother and our Italian culture.
The members of the church lovingly make all of the food for the festival. Even Bruno's Restaurant- which serves excellent eggplant lasagna, is a member of the parish. There are two options...sit down dinner where the school children actually serve you your dinner at a table and traditional booths. The Villa serves a full meal for around $10 a person. You have a choice of cavatelli and meatballs, spaghetti and meatballs, chicken dinner and many other items all including a salad and bread and butter. The meals are huge and you will take at least half of it home with you. But it is nice to just sit down and have a good meal. Fridays they include fish dinners on the menu.
Outside the food is top notch! You can get a bowl of cavaelli and one meatball or a meatball sub for $5. There is also yummy sausage sandwiches, pizza, and Hispanic food. Looking for a snack...lupini are available. There are sweets available for everyone. Refreshing HHawaiian ice is available in a multitude of flavors for only $3 for a "small". For the Italian sweet tooth there are cannolis, lemon ice and the famous zeppole! The food is amazing and well priced. A family could easily get a full dinner for $20.
If you are looking for a night out and something other than food...there is beer, wine and homemade cello's. The limoncello is absolutely amazing and shots abound with the working crew come Sunday night. Each night you can dance to the Italian music and many people sign along. The Grocery Stand gets hot on Sunday nights giving away whole provolone's, salamis, gallons of wine, and gallons of olive oil. At midnight on Sunday is the drawing for $5000 grand prize. We also offer casino gambling without having to go downtown for the night.
The best part of this festival aside from the food is the Procession of Saints on Sunday. Mass begins at 11:30 and the Procession starts after Mass. The procession easily takes an hour oing up and down the streets in the Italian part of the West Side. The people walking in the procession pray, sing and watch a fireworks presentation at the end of the procession. The neighborhood families clean the streets and lay down flowers for the Blessed Mother. As the Blessed Mother reaches each cross street, firecrackers go off in her honor to let all know she is present. After the Procession members return to church for Benediction.
Stop by on Sunday and see me at the Zeppole Booth! The fried dough with powdered sugar is a yearly treat!
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