OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – For more than a century Omaha’s Italian community has shared its traditions, community and its food with the metro area.
The Santa Lucia Festival is 102 years old.
There is still pride in the colors of the old country in Omaha’s Little Italy.
“Well this of course is the Santa Lucia hall used to be an old fire barn, Vancanti Electric is right across the street,” said Pat Venditte, a Little Italy resident.
Venditte’s roots run deep in the Little Italy community. A community where he grew up. A community where he says everybody got along.
“Italians, Mexicans, a lot of Irish but back then it didn’t seem as though ethnicity was a real big deal. We just looked at it as one big happy family,” Venditte said.
Organizers are prepared for the 102nd Santa Lucia Festival. Like other years in the past, 10th and Williams will be filled with people enjoying the food, the music and the people. Venditte said that will happen despite current climate.
“I know what it’s like today, how I feel today,” Venditte said. “You hate to see the chaos that does exist you know we certainly are aware of that. But to what extent that is going to divide our people I don’t know if it really is.”
Venditte believes the Santa Lucia Festival will continue to attract big crowds and continue to bring the community together. It’s tradition and it’s devotion.
“The tradition will continue and the Catholic church has a lot to do with it. I think the leadership that we have at our church today has a lot to do with keeping the flavor of Santa Lucia, the heritage, the ancestry together,” Venditte said.
The Santa Lucia Festival starts today and runs through Sunday at 10th and Williams in Omaha’s Little Italy.
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