A trifecta of community-wide festivities 2023
Steubenville provided its community joy, historical lectures, delicious food, and old-fashioned entertainment.
The Dean Martin Festival at the Spot Bar inaugurated Steubenville’s festival week on June 15.
People from throughout the country and even abroad came to Steubenville to celebrate the city-born crooner and his Rat Pack buddies.
Martin’s 90-year-old first cousin Bill Cisario even appeared.
Many fondly remembered the festival.
The former PNC lobby housed a moving museum with a massive memorabilia display, and trolley rides were offered to visitors who wanted a local to show out Martin’s hometown attractions. The Steubenville work Association showed original work and screened “High Noon” and “Rio Bravo” in the Grand Theater.
The festival march returned to Fourth Street this year with Lou Martini Jr., an actor known for his appearances in “The Godfather,” “The Sopranos,” and “Law and Order,” as grand marshal.
The Rat Pack, played by Joe Scalissi, Brian Duprey, and David Hayes, rode aboard a parade float.
After the procession, a 5-kilometer run around Beatty Park and a 100-meter Tot Trot were held.
The three-day festival finished with a sold-out Rat Pack Dinner Show at Froehlich’s Classic Corner.
The city had their 2023 Juneteenth Community Celebration on June 16-19. Locals visited Second Baptist Church, Mount Carmel Baptist Church, and North End Park to celebrate.
Festival chairwoman Tamla Hunt said the city has hosted Juneteenth for eight years, except the year of the COVID-19 epidemic.
Church members created and ran the celebrations 90% of the time. She emphasized why citizens should participate in this yearly holiday festivity.
Hunt said the event aims to bridge the gap between the two worlds.
We’re delighted that Juneteenth is a federal holiday, and we want to raise community awareness of it.
The four-day festival featured music, food, entertainment, health tests, vendors, crafts, lecturers, and educational booths.
North End Field had music, children’s cuisine, and activities on Monday.
That before the Greek Festival.
South Fourth and South streets hosted the 37th-annual festival Wednesday through Friday.
Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church hosted three days of dancing, singing, eating a variety of delicacies, being with family, and having fun.
A 10-foot booth at an all-ethnicity event almost four decades ago started it all.
Greek Fest co-chair Anthony Mougianis said his father, the late Nick Mougianis, helped develop it. With community backing, the church moved the celebration to the street, where it has grown. The event emphasizes studying Greek culture and gastronomy.
During the Greek Festival, Steubenville relatives visit. Organizers say travelers have stopped for baklava. Customers praised the cuisine. Chicken, fish, lamb stew, sausage, gyros, and stuffed grape leaves were popular. Mousaka, spanakopita, and pastitsio were favorites.
