The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
‘GREAT TO BE BACK’
Taste of Italy marks first major event for community center
Italian food, over 50 bottles of wine and live music broke in the newly opened Mayfield Heights Aquatic and Community Center on an unseasonably warm Saturday night.
The Taste of Italy returned to Mayfield Heights on Feb. 10. The fundraising event was forced to take a break in part due to the pandemic and also in part because the city was building a new Community Center at 6080 Marsol Road.
The Taste of Italy was the first official event for the center, which has meeting rooms, waterslides and outdoor seating areas with fire pits along with a modern kitchen and dining area. Although lines for the open bar were long, spirits were high at the new building.
Mayor Anthony DiCicco, who was standing in the kitchen with trays of food flying around him about an hour before the event was due to start, said he was happy to see the new facilities being used for the first time.
The mayor said that without the help of Chef Cecilia Paponetti and her daughters, Stephanie Pietropinto, Melissa Cook and Tiffany Klinger, who at the time were busily rushing to prepare for night, the return of Taste of Italy would not have been possible.
“We are very happy to have the Taste of Italy back,” DiCicco said. “It’s always been a great community event, and we couldn’t do it without all these great volunteers here.
“It’s much easier to work in here; it’s much bigger, much more efficient,” he added. “It’s just great to be back and doing something, having a community center again.”
Cecilia Paponetti said, in between taste-testing pasta, that she started cooking for the Taste of Italy because she wanted to give back to the community. Despite lacking professional cooking experience, she and her daughters quickly put together appetizers, main courses and desserts for the over 210 people in attendance. She said that it was easier to do the event this year because of the new facilities.
“I had done it for many years and then I kind of stepped aside, burnt out and needed some time off,” Paponetti said. “But with the new building they asked me
to do it again this year and I was more than pleased. It’s a great facility, as you can see, we have all kinds of things going on.
“I was just a housewife, not a professional in a kitchen or anything, but I’ve done a lot of catering and stuff like that,” she added. “The kitchen is phenomenal, because in our old building it was very limited. This is just awesome with all of the state-of-the-art equipment, you can’t ask for more. Hopefully tonight will be wonderful.”
Visitors had plenty to do before the food was served. After signing in attendees were able to take their photos at a photo booth, enter a 50/50 raffle and tour some of the outside areas of the Aquatic Center. With an estimated $10,000 raised, the profits will go into the recreation department’s budget, according to city officials.
At a previous City Council meeting, Council President Pro Tem Donald Manno said that any of the money used is intended to go back to the residents in the form of new and better programs.