Columbus Day Parade in Cleveland

 The Columbus Day Parade, sponsored by Italian Sons and Daughters of America (ISDA), took place in Cleveland's Little Italy neighborhood on Monday, Oct. 10 along Mayfield and Murray Hill roads. Hundreds of units marched - elaborate floats, marching bands, local artifacts, and city leaders - to celebrate Northeast Ohio's deeply rooted Italian American culture.

After Mass at Holy Rosary Church, 92.3's Anthony Lima served as MC of the Parade.

He introduced ISDA National President and Greater Cleveland Columbus Day chairman Basil M. Russo who gave a few brief remarks.

Basil has said, "On Columbus Day, Italian Americans pay tribute to our ancestors, and to all walks of life, who arrived in Northeast Ohio and built better lives for their families. Many aren't aware of this, but Columbus' parades and statues were used by early Italian Americans to fuel assimilation and fight discrimination during a decades-long period of oppression. In fact, the first national Columbus Day celebration honoring Italian Americans was held in 1892 as a way to ease tensions after 11 innocent Italian immigrants were murdered in New Orleans, in front of the largest lynch mob ever to assemble on U.S. soil."

Watch a video of the opening before the Parade stepped off. 

Watch a video of highlights of the Columbus Day Parade. (As usual we did not include any of the many politicians who marched.)

 

See more pictures and video form the Columbus Day parade in Cleveland

Feast of the Assumption Procession in Cleveland 2022

 While there are 4 days of music, food and partying each year the highlight of the annual Feast of the Assumption is the Mass on August 15th, the actual feast day, followed by a prayerful procession through the streets of Little Italy. 

 After the Mass at Holy Rosary Church in Cleveland’s Little Italy, parishioners and others march through the streets of the neighborhood saying the Rosary.  This year Cleveland Bishop Edward Malesic marched with them. Here is some of the Feast of the Assumption parade in Cleveland, 2022.

Italians in Cleveland

Italian Heritage in Cleveland

 Italian Heritage in Cleveland

Italian immigrants and Italian Americans have played an important part in the history and growth of Cleveland. This is on display at the Italian Museum of Cleveland located in the Little Italy neighborhood of Cleveland.

In this video, Pamela Dorazio Dean, Director of the museum, led Dan Hanson on a quick tour of some of the Museum's displays and told the story of the Italians coming to Cleveland and helping build it and make it grow. The first wave of immigrants settled in what was called Big Italy but later moved to several neighborhoods in both the west and east sides including, of course, Little Italy.

Pamela told how many of the immigrants were skilled stone carvers and how they played an important role in the creation of the huge Guardians statues which became the inspiration for the Cleveland baseball team's name change from Indians to Guardians. The Feast of the Assumption and Columbus Day Parade were discussed and Pamela shared the history of how Columbus Day came to be celebrated. It resulted from the largest lynching in US history when 11 Italian immigrants were lynched in New Orleans in 1891. Pamela stressed that Columbus Day is mostly a celebration of Italian heritage.

The museum is free to visit.

See more of Italians in Cleveland

---

Rocky Colavito statue unveiling and 88th Birthday

Rocco Domenico "Rocky" Colavito Jr. (born August 10, 1933) is best known playing baseball for the Cleveland Indians in right field. In 1959, he hit four consecutive home runs in one game. In 1965, he became the first American League (AL) outfielder to play a complete season with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.

Rocky Colavito was an All-Star for six seasons (9 All-Star Games). He is the fifth player in the history of the AL to have eleven consecutive 20-home run seasons (1956–1966). During that span, he exceeded 40 home runs three times and 100 runs batted in, six times. He also led the AL in home runs, RBI, and slugging average once each. Colavito ranked third among AL right-handed hitters for home runs (371) and eighth for AL games played at right field (1272), at the end of his MLB playing career in 1968.

But Rocky is so much more than a bunch of all-star caliber achievements. He was a hero to Cleveland and every kid in little league copied the stretch and other batting nuances of #6. The fans loved Rocky and when he was unexpectedly traded to Detroit on April 17, 1960 by Indians general manager Frank Lane to the Detroit Tigers for Harvey Kuenn the fans were devastated. They missed "The Rock" and cries of Don't knock the Rock were everywhere.

The Tribe was extremely unsuccessful after the trade and it was blamed on "The Curse of Rocky Colavito" which became a book by sportswriter Terry Pluto.

In January 1965, Rocky Colavito was brought back to Cleveland from Kansas City by Indians general manager Gabe Paul.

The Cleveland fans never stopped idolizing Rocky and he had a triumphant return in August 2021 for the unveiling of a statue in his honor in Cleveland's Little Italy neighborhood.

The day included a lunch with a birthday cake and the packed house singing Happy Birthday to Rocky.

Happy 88th birthday Rocky Colavito

I was fortunate to be one of a handful who got to ask Rocky questions at a press conference.  I asked about the many Italian American stars in baseball. I asked who would be his all-time Italian outfield with him in right field and Joe Dimaggio in center. Off camera we talked about other positions. For example, he said while Mike Piazza was great the best Italian catcher was Yogi Berra. No contest.

The highlight of the day was the ceremony and unveiling of the statue in Little Italy.

See lots of photos and videos of Rocky Colavito ceremony

Classic Italian songs at the Feast

A highlight of the Feast of the Assumption celebration in Cleveland's Little Italy  is the nightly performance of the band Primavera on the streets of Little Italy. They play classic Italian songs and get the crowd dancing and singing along.

Here's a sample song that got a young couple dancing

More from the Feast

Feast of the Assumption 2014

The annual celebration of the Feast of the Assumption took place in Cleveland's Little Italy centered around Holy Rosary Church. It is primarily a religious holiday celebrating the Assumption of Jesus' mother Mary into Heaven and the Feast begins with Mass and a solemn procession. It is also 4 days of great Italian music, food, traditions and camaraderie.

More from the Feast