A FUN EVENING THAT HELPS A FESTIVAL AND SCHOLARSHIPS — The Undo’s Upper Ohio Valley Italian Festival’s Christmas gala will be held Nov. 27 at Undo’s West, 5113 National Road East, St. Clairsville, with hors d’oeuvres at 4 p.m., table wine, a cookie table, an Italian auction, a sit-down dinner at 5 p.m. and then dancing from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. by the nationally renowned band Ray Massa and the Eurorhythms. Tickets are $40 with reservations available through Tuesday by calling (304) 233-1090. Proceeds help with the awarding of 12 $1,000 scholarships to area students in Jefferson, Brooke, Hancock, Belmont, Marshall and Ohio counties. and with the annual Upper Ohio Valley Italian Heritage Festival, which marks its 40th year in 2023. With some of the auction items are, from left, Janice Whipkey, festival coordinator; Eric Filberto, a member of the board of directors; and Michele Fabbro, board president. -- Contributed

You don’t have to be Italian to come to the annual Christmas gala fundraiser organized by the Undo’s Upper Ohio Valley Italian Festival committee.

But the Nov. 27 event will definitely have an Italian flair to it, according to Michele Fabbro of Steubenville, president of the festival board of directors.

The holiday gala is at Undo’s West, located at 5113 National Road East, St. Clairsville, with hors d’oeuvres at 4 p.m.; table wine; a table of Italian cookies; an Italian auction; a sit-down dinner of Italian food at 5 p.m.; and music from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. by the nationally acclaimed Ray Massa and the Eurorhythms.

Tickets are $40 and are available through Tuesday by calling (304) 233-1090.

“We would like everyone to come,” Fabbro said. “It’s a great celebration. You don’t have to be Italian obviously to come, but the theme is around Italian food and Italian entertainment, but it doesn’t matter. You’d have a good time no matter what,” she assured.

In addition to having an enjoyable evening out and jumpstarting the Christmas holiday season with a dress-up opportunity, patrons are helping make scholarships happen for 12 students throughout the area and contributing to the success of the annual Undo’s Upper Ohio Valley Italian Festival with overall expenses.

This marks a special year in the life of the festival as it will be its 40th anniversary.

“The annual festival is held the last full weekend in July with two goals — to promote and celebrate the Italian culture and to raise funds for scholarships for students residing in six counties, Belmont and Jefferson in Ohio and Hancock, Brooke, Ohio and Marshall counties in West Virginia,” Fabbro explained.

“Each year we award two $1,000 scholarships to students in each county,” she added. “Throughout the year we sponsor events to help raise funds for these scholarships, and through the years we have awarded almost $400,000 to local students,” Fabbro continued.

“The festival is a nonprofit organization that raises all operating funds and relies on volunteers at the festival and throughout the year,” she added. “We are grateful for our continued supporters and for all of our volunteers.”

The festival was canceled only once in its history and that was in 2020 due to COVID-19. The three-day 2023 event is on the calendar for July 28-30. It is held at Heritage Port in Wheeling.

This marks the third year for the Christmas gala, according to Fabbro, who said it, too, missed a year because of pandemic precautions in place.

“We expect to have a great group of friends, family and festival supporters, and everyone in the valley who loves Italian food, wine, music, entertainment and just having a nice evening out,” Fabbro said.

“Everybody is welcome to attend the gala — Italian or non-Italian,” Fabbro said. “It’s an Italian meal and Italian music that you can listen to or dance to. It’s really a nice event.”

The gala will include what organizers call a Venetian auction in addition to a separate drawing for a Christmas tree with approximately $500 worth of gift cards on it.

“And Ray Massa really is nationally acclaimed,” Fabbro said of the entertainment. “He’s been voted the best Italian entertainer in the country for a couple years, I think, and he’s originally from Bellaire, Ohio, if you can believe that. He’s originally from Bellaire and went off to college and needed to make a few bucks on the side and started this little band and then this was what it turned into,” she said.

“That’s kind of a neat thing, because he’s a busy guy, you know, it’s tough to get him at Christmas time, but he always helps us out,” she said.

The gala constitutes but one of the festival’s fundraisers.

“This is a pretty big one, but we also this year, we’re going to have what we’ve never had before — a golf tournament, and that’ll be on July 9 at Oglebay, and they can sign up for that,” she said. “We have a wine tasting, and it’s usually scheduled the second Friday in June, and that is at Casa di Vino — House of Wine — in the market district of Wheeling,” she added. It is located at 2269 Market St., Wheeling

Fabbro emphasized that some people mistakenly think of the summertime Italian festival as “a Wheeling festival.” “But every year we give scholarships so this past year, in 2022, the two scholarships from Jefferson County, one went to a student at Catholic Central High School and one went to a student at Steubenville High School so every one of the counties benefits from this festival,” Fabbro said.

The gala is “a dress-up event” and an opportunity to kick off the holiday season in style. “We don’t do that enough I don’t think,” she commented.

The annual festival attracts as many as 50,000 people over the course of its three-day run, according to Fabbro. “If we have good weather, we’ve had 50,000 people at the festival.”

Planning already is under way for the summer event and that includes accepting nominations for the Italian American of the Year award.

“Our final vote comes in January on who that will be,” Fabbro said, noting, “We’ve had three people nominated so far, and we take nominations from the public. If the public knows of someone that they feel has made a real impact on the community, it’s usually somebody who is very charitable and well known, they can send a letter of nomination to the board office at 1200 Market St., Suite 3, Wheeling WV 26003.”

Fabbro said one year, the Italian American of the Year award was presented to an individual nominated by the community, not a festival board member.

Letters of nomination should be sent before the first of the year to arrive in time for the festival board to consider it at its meeting on Jan. 12.

Anthony Filberto serves as festival chairman. Board officers, aside from Fabbro as president, are Marilyn Messino Wehrheim, vice president; Angie Clutter, secretary; and John Balzano, treasurer. Board members are: Mario DiBias, Gay Lucci and Vince Gianangeli, Belmont County; Anthony Filberto an Eric Filberto, Brooke County; Louis Contumelio, Hancock County; John Balzano and Michele Fabbro, Jefferson County; Marilyn Messino Wehrheim, Marshall County; Chrissy Clutter, Toni DiCarlo and Robert Triveri, Ohio County; Tiberio Ciancone, Frankie DiCarlantonio and Kathryn DiCarlantonio, associate; Ali Bonoo, Angie Clutter, Alicia DiCesare, Adri DiLorenzo, Erik Schramm, Rose Mary Baller and Rosie Sprowls, at large; Janice Whipkey, coordinator; and Benny Battistelli, Anthony Zambito, Vincent Colaianni and Anthony Iannarelli Sr., founders.