by Rosalyn Queen
A BLAST FROM THE PAST. As we enter the last of August we are all getting ready to attend the West Virginia Italian Heritage which will be held in Clarksburg on Labor Day Weekend.
You might wonder what has made this event so popular and why it continues to draw crowds. One thing is that the original Board worked very hard to present special classy events and one of them was to make a personal invitation to then Vice President George Bush to attend the festival.
We contacted Senator Byrd and asked for his assistance in making this happen. As always he went to work on this and contacted us back confirming that the Vice President would receive us at 11:00 on August 11, 1981.
We immediately started planning who would go and came up with Board members Chico, Manchin and Iaquinta, Director Queen, Regina Maria Connie Chico and Festival photographer Michael Queen.. we met and discussed what we should bring and present to the VP. We had a set of wine glasses engraved for the V P and for the Senator. We went to: Senator Byrd’s office, visited with him and his staff and hung one of our“posters and then he had a limo take us to the White House. Sam Chico read and presented the VP with an invitation and then Regina presented him with the glasses. He was so congenial to us. He took us out on the balcony,to show us his view of the White House grounds and also shared with us the middle desk drawer used by him and former VP’s and where they all have left their signatures.
We had been advised that due to a previous commitment he would not be able to attend the festival. We were thrilled that the Vice President took the time to receive us and acknowledge our Festival.
It was just happenings like these that made the festival so popular. The past is an important part of the future of our festival. Our mission to Preserve and Present our culture continues.
I hope to see you all at the festival. . I will be at Stonewall Coffee Shop signing my book Arriverderci after the coronation.
Take care and until next week “Now You Have Heard It Through The Grapevine.”
