Sons of Italy prepare 6,800 of their famous sausage sandwiches ahead of Italian festival | News, Sports, Jobs

Photo of: Gage Vote

Members of the Bellaire Sons of Italy prepare the sausage the club will sell at Undo’s Upper Ohio Valley Italian Heritage Festival. Volunteers include (clockwise from left): Doug Hartlieb, Nick Deblasis, Dave Badia and Bob Sall.

BELLAIRE – Members of the Sons of Italy are preparing for Undo’s Upper Ohio Valley Italian Heritage Festival, Friday through Sunday at Heritage Port in downtown Wheeling.

The organization met Tuesday morning to prepare 6,800 real sausage rolls, purchasing bread for the sandwiches from Cellone Italian Bread Co. in Pittsburgh and pork for the sausage from Jacob and Sons Quality Meats in Martins Ferry.

“Today we are just finishing up the sausage for the Italian Festival. We have two tables full of ladies cutting the buns for our sausages,” said Bill Ault, president of the Sons of Italy.

The Sons of Italy is a volunteer organization and everyone involved in the preparations for the Italian festival volunteers their time to give the organization the help it needs.

“We don’t make any money. We have to keep some money to keep the building running, but other than that, the only things that get paid are our bartenders and cleaning staff,” Ault said.

The organization plans to be ready to set up at the Italian Festival on Thursday morning and then sell sausage throughout the duration of the Italian Festival.

In addition to the sausage, the Sons of Italy will also be selling their latest cookbook.

“We have a cultural committee and these ladies work hard. This is our second edition of the cookbook. We did one 10 years ago and now we have a new one,” Ault said.

The cookbook contains a number of authentic Italian recipes from several local families who shared these recipes with the Sons of Italy. It contains over 200 recipes organized by the type of dish and the region of Italy it originated from.

“These are not recipes copied from a book somewhere. This is how their mothers or grandmothers or their whole family cooked,” he added. “Everything is set in different regions of Italy, so you can see the differences between the recipes from Milan to Sicily.”

Those unable to purchase the book at the Italian Festival can either stop by the Sons of Italy vendors in Bellaire at 3348 Belmont Street or call 740-676-7137.

Ault believes the Italian Festival is important not only to the Italian-American community in the Ohio Valley, but also to the local economy.

“We just bought 6,800 buns from Cellone’s and 3,000 pounds of pork from Jacobs in Martins Ferry, so that’s important to the economy,” he noted. “This is our biggest event, our biggest moneymaker.”

The Sons of Italy donate the proceeds from the Italian Festival to the community.

“We are a nonprofit organization and donate money to almost any organization that asks for it,” Ault said.

He noted that the Sons of Italy awarded $7,000 in scholarships.

The Sons of Italy hosts spaghetti dinners at the lodge every Thursday from 4 to 7 p.m. Ault said it’s not unusual for the organization to serve 300 meals during the weekly dinners.

“People come and they love the sauce. We have a good crew and we make the sauce all the time. It’s all fresh. It’s a great organization. It’s the only one I’m a part of,” Ault added. “This is not the Sons of Italy bar and grill. This is a cultural club for Italian families, and we keep it going.”

The festival officially begins on Friday at noon. Entertainment begins at 12:30pm and continues throughout the afternoon and evening on the main stage at Heritage Port. It picks up again on Saturday at 11:30am with a veterans’ honors ceremony. The day’s activities conclude with a fireworks display at 11pm.

The final day of the festival begins on Sunday at 10am with a Catholic mass, followed by entertainment until 4pm.