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07/11/2018 08:30 AMYou may have spotted him at a previous Festival of Angels in North Haven, but he wasn’t up on the stage or making a speech. Instead, that’s the time when festival founder Lenny Ricciardelli finally gets to sit back and relax.
“Once the festival has started, there’s not a lot for me to do. Everything I’ve done, is done; whatever happens, happens,” says Lenny, a lifelong resident of North Haven. “I smoke a cigar and I sit out in my chair and I watch everything.”
For the 10 years that the festival has taken place, Lenny has organized it. As president of North Haven Sons and Daughters of Italy Lodge 2805, his goal is to keep Italian-American traditions alive. The Festival of Angels starts with the children’s Procession of Angels on Friday, Aug. 24 on the green. The festival offers traditional Italian fare like eggplant parmesan and cannoli, a kids’ area, craft and jewelry vendors, a grape stomp, presentations by local authors, an anginette cookie contest, and more.
The main attraction is the culture tent, featuring about 250 information displays created by members of Lodge 2805.
“There’s displays on entertainers, cities in Italy, sports figures, writers, architects, boxers—there’s something for everybody,” Lenny says.
Music, too, is a mainstay of the festival.
“We have various dancing schools and singing schools that provide entertainment during the day, and then at night we have Italian bands that play,” says Lenny. “It kind of turns into a concert on the green, but with an Italian flair.”
Lenny is so critical to the festival that it literally wouldn’t exist without him. That’s what happened from 2013 to 2017, when health issues kept him from the role and the festival did not take place. But that’s not how it should be, says Lenny, who this year organized it alongside Frank Mentone.
“Everybody tells me I’m the only guy who can do this—but I don’t think I am,” he says. “You just have to put your mind to doing it and put in a bit of time.”
Lenny is looking for new blood—both for the lodge and to help run the festival. You’d think it’d be an easy task given its tremendous popularity.
“The first one was kind of scary,” Lenny recalls of the inaugural festival.
The lodge figured it’d get about the same crowd as attended North Haven’s Concerts on the Green.
Instead, “We got a lot more,” Lenny says. “It was wonderful, but it got a little overwhelming.”
The festival attracts about 20,000 people. It’s also been a significant supporter of local charities. Since its founding in 2004, Lodge 2805 has given away about $167,000 to nonprofits including Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Fisher House, and the local chapter of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, where Lenny formerly served as treasurer.
However, the primary goal is to promote Italian culture.
“The culture’s dying a little—not just Italian culture—cultural things are just not on people’s minds any more,” says Lenny, whose grandparents were from Naples and Florence.
He and his wife, Sharon, have passed along what they could to their daughter, Alayna, such as the Italian game tombola, which is like a combination of a raffle and bingo and a board game.
For Lenny, Italian food is a big part of that culture, too. His grandfather ran an Italian meat market in New Haven; his father had one in North Haven. Lenny ended up owning a meat market, too: Meat Land in East Haven, which he ran for 11 years.
“I can’t cut meat anymore, but I can still carry on the traditions,” he says.
For Lenny, the Festival of Angels is the best way to accomplish that goal. Bringing it back after five years feels “wonderful,” he says.
“I’m kind of humbled by what happens and how many people support what we do.”
The Festival of Angels takes place Friday, Aug. 24 from 4 to 10 p.m. and Saturday, Aug. 25 from 2 to 10 p.m. on the North Haven Green. Admission is free. For more information, visit www.northhavenlodge2805.club.