The Our Lady of Peace Festival is held each year during the second full weekend of July in the parking area between the Rev. Bernard Vacca Community Center and the former Mt. Carmel School, 2150 Columbus Avenue, Ashtabula, Ohio.

For 124 years the festival has been held in Ashtabula City to commemorate the spirit, faith, and traditions of Italian Catholic immigrants who have made the community their home.
This annual event marks the highlight of summer for area families along with parishioners, providing a weekend of entertainment and events that is affordable to everyone.

The festival has grown over the years to include live music, family friendly rides and games, traditional Italian and Mexican food, homemade desserts, novelties, and games of chance. Highlights include the Cavatelli Dinner, with Sunday evening fireworks to officially close out the weekend of celebration.

The nine-day prayer novena is the heart of the festival, with the Sunday mass as the culmination of the faith-driven celebration. Parishioners and community members gather for a procession along Columbus Avenue to the church’s original worship site. Members of select parish families take turns carrying a statue of the Madonna while escorted by the Knights of Columbus and a band.

The festival is a proud celebration of homecoming, with time honored traditions that have been handed down through generations of families. Led by parishioners Rosemary Bernato and Don Meola, a dedicated committee of volunteers will organize and host the 2021 Festival.

The festival will be a party with a purpose, which will be to raise $100,000 to asphalt pave parish parking lots.

Planning for the 2021 festival will proceed with continual monitoring of COVID virus status and a decision will be made by May 1 on whether or not to proceed with the in-person event.

The Catholic faith community in Ashtabula has had a strong tradition of hosting annual summer festivals beginning in 1860 with the founding of St. Joseph’s parish by Irish and German immigrants.

With the construction of railroads in the late 1800s the immigrant population of Ashtabula grew. As a result, Irish Catholics established Mother of Sorrows 1878. Then, twenty years later, the Italian community purchased the site of the original Our Lady of Mount Carmel in 1897 and a church was built there in 1902. In 1955, The Mission was established to serve families of Italian descent who were members of St. Joseph’s Parish.

Each of the Ashtabula Catholic parishes held individual summer festivals for most of a 20th century until parish population numbers resulted in the 2011 consolidation of parishes. The Mt. Carmel festival continued to be held annually.

Background

Referred by parishioners as the bazaar or feast, the long standing tradition of the Mt. Carmel Festival has kept its purpose the same, through years of wars, depressions, an ever changing local population, and the pandemic of today. Despite dwindling volunteer numbers over the years, the festival has remained successful, both profitable and as a celebratory tradition. In the past twenty years, the festival has scaled back in size, with fewer church-run booths and attractions. A renewed emphasis on safety, incorporating admission fees and security personnel has restored the family atmosphere after several years of unsettling crowd behavior. The success of the 2019 festival has resulted in the willingness of Parish leadership to consider potential investment toward the future of the event.

Overview

The mission of the festival is to serve as a three-day fundraiser for Our Lady of Peace parish as well as a joyous celebration of faith and immigrant heritage in honor of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.

Festival objectives:
1. Continue the tradition of venerating Our Lady of Mt. Carmel;
2. Provide an attractive homecoming or reunion-like environment, which will encourage extended families of current parishioners and Ashtabula area residents to return home for the weekend;
3. Invigorate members of the parish and the greater Ashtabula area by offering a joyful and wholesome family event to attend;
4. Offer area children, teenagers and the general population with a safe opportunity to be social and interact interpersonally;
5. Encourage the parishioners to participate in the novena, Sunday Mass and procession;
6. Encourage parish unity and inclusiveness with outreach to all past and present parishioners to participate and volunteer; and
7. Raise $100,000 to repair and replace asphalt paved parish parking lots.

The primary target market for the festival will be Catholics and the families of Our Lady of Peace parish as well as all residents in Ashtabula County, Ohio.

The festival is a large undertaking and will require the involvement of 100 or more volunteers.

Status Quo Requirements
To continue the festival as it was configured in 2019 a minimal additional investment will be required. The only pressing need will be the recruitment of sufficient volunteers to once again offer the following: