June 2023 LaCarota
Hello my fellow Club Paesano Members. As always, I hope that this newsletter finds you well. Healthy, happy and safe! Looks like the weather has finally changed for the better, and we are drying out. Summer may finally be here. I hope that you are all enjoying it and getting things done. From what I heard in conversations at our last meeting, a lot of you are getting busy with a multitude of different things happening in your everyday activities. Some are selling houses, moving, refurbishing, etc. Most of us have our annual “Spring Cleaning” going on too, so that’s always a task that keeps us busy. Let us know if you are up to anything exciting or changing, or if you are in need of any kind of help. We have a lot of members that are more than willing to lend a hand. Like a huge family, all you have to do is ask. We have a great membership that is always willing to work. We have a lot of terrific people here, so do your best to get to know one another. Here’s to a fantastic summer ahead!
Spring Dance:
On Saturday May 6th we celebrated our annual “Spring Dance”. It was a great time and it looked like the people that attended the event had a fun time. The band was jumping, and as always, the dinner was fantastic! Our charity partner brought some people in and raised money for their cause. They were very happy and thanked us for giving them the opportunity to partner with us to make them some money. I don’t have a number as to what they made but when I get it I will post it. My one major concern was that we only had 166 guests that came out to enjoy our party. There weren’t a lot of CP Members on the guest list, either online or sales at the door. I realize that it was a busy weekend with other events going on around town, or that some of you may have had other plans already, but that was a very low CP representation. The board and I have decided to move the event to a new date next year, so we don’t have to compete with Cinco de Mayo celebrations, or the Gresham Jazz Festival. Both have resurfaced, and are trying to attract guests as well. We will do what we can to avoid this conflict next year. Hopefully we will make up for it at our “Concert in the Park”! Let’s do our best to fill the park. Start making your plans now!! Saturday August 5th, Concert in the Park. Put it on your calendars!
The Fun Committee:
The Fun Committee enjoyed a couple of back to back events in these past few days. On Saturday May 20th we enjoyed an event at “Gather Arts” in Brush Prairie WA. This event was hosted by Bridgett and Mike Merrill, the owners of Gather Arts and whose father is our long time member, Jim Merrill. We all arrived there and were welcomed by both Bridgett and Mike. Their sons were there to help out too. It was out in the countryside, a very nice way to get out of the city. Bridgett and Mike were the ultimate hosts! The wine and soft drinks were flowing right away, as they took the time to tell us about the farm, what they do and show us around the property. They also had a very nice shop with some great items and gifts for purchase. We started out with some very good appetizers and our 1st activity. We learned how to make a salami rose, and some “Heart” cherry tomatoes to display if you were making a charcuterie board or tray. As we learned to make these, we kept eating and drinking, like good Italians do! We munched on a tray of salami, cheese, fruits and crackers, with little biscotti . But wait, there’s more! As we continued to create, the food kept rolling out. Shrimp, ravioli , meatballs and focaccia bread, more wine, soft drinks and a speciality “Club Paesano” drink, made especially for us! Our main event was our Wine glass painting class. That’s when all of our “Micheal Angelo’s” got into the mood and began to get creative! Mike Merrill, was our art professor and showed us, step by step how to create this masterpiece. We each were given a stemmed wine glass with a palette of paint and a brush. Mike described how to start painting it, then basically let us get our own creative juices flowing. I have to tell you, I don’t think that I saw one bad art piece. They all looked great and showed off each other’s character. I didn’t realize that we had so many artistic members in our pack. They were all fantastic in their own right. Very creative pieces. I would have taken all of them to have my very own personalized Club Paesano stemware! LoL! It was a fantastic night, and I would like to thank Bridgett and Mike once again for being such great hosts, and hopefully will become future members of our club. They both would fit into our membership perfectly. They do different classes, so I’m hoping to be able to set up another event with them in the future. I’d also like to thank all of you that came out to it and enjoyed a nice Fun Committee event together with your fellow members! We also enjoyed our last Monday Night Social for the season, this past Monday night. Once again we enjoyed great food, drink, fun, games and comradery with our fellow CP Members. Never fear though, our MNS will return the 1st Monday after the Labour Day holiday in September. That would be Monday the 11th. If you still haven’t come out to one, do yourself a favor and come out this coming September, you’ll have a blast! Thanks to all of our regulars who show up week after week, have made dinners to share and have partaken in the Fun, which is our Monday Night Social! Ciao till September.
Polenta Dinner:
Our annual Polenta dinner will take place on Wednesday June 7th. It will be in lieu of our regular monthly membership meeting. We’ve been doing this for the last several years now. Instead of our June’s meeting, we are inviting all other Italians, whether they are members of another club or not, to partake in this wonderful celebration of an Italian staple, wine and socializing. As we all know, Italians love to eat and celebrate for any reason. It could be the day that the sun came out, a day that the mushrooms started to grow, etc. for any reason, which is fantastic to me. Any reason to Party! So, a few years ago, the idea was born to have all of the clubs and Italians in the area come together for this dinner. A place where Italians thrive! LoL! Like all big Italian dinners and Festa’s we are all expected to participate and help out. That being said, we will need volunteers to help set up tables and chairs, to help in the kitchen, cooking & serving, and of course to clean up and tear down at the end. As I said, this dinner is open to all Italians, so if you know of any Italians that you would like to invite, please do so. Please “RSVP” back to me, so that we can have a head count and know how much food to purchase. We are always looking for volunteers to cook a roast for our sauce to go over our Polenta. 5 to 6 will be enough. If you would like to cook one for the sauce, please let me know that too. You can bring your own wine to drink and share. Club Paesano will supply soft drinks and water. Come and join us for this traditional Italian get together. It will be great! Doors open at 5:30pm (unless you are coming earlier to help in the kitchen or to set up tables).
Paesano Bocce Club:
Our Paesano Bocce Club is on the verge of starting our 2023 season. We are all very excited and we’re looking forward to a very competitive yet enjoyable season. Our goal is to have 4 nights again. We are good to go for our Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights, but are still in need of some players / teams for our Thursday night league, which is our “Rookie & Beginners” night. We would ultimately like to have 8 teams, but could settle with less if we have too. If you are interested in playing or forming a team, please let someone on our board know, or please go to our website to enroll. Our board members are ; President- Mario Pompei / Treasurer – Rick Cervi / Competition Chairperson – Kelly Barasch / Board Officers – Doug Burchak & Dino Gavazza. Our website is www.paesanobocceclub.com This past Sunday, we had our annual “Meet & Greet” Bocce day, which brought out over 50 players. Some were regulars but the most of them were new to our club which was great to see. Everyone had a terrific time and it looked like we had some good talent out there. Hopefully we will obtain some new members that want to come out, be competitive but most of all, have a fun time out there! We hope to see you on the courts. As always, we have bocce apparel, signs, pavers and advertisement opportunities for sale. We would also be happy and grateful to receive monetary donations as well to eventually be able to build a roof that would cover the courts for an all around season and the opportunity for bigger events and rentals.
Club Paesano Dues:
June is fast approaching, and our CP Membership dues need to be paid by the end of June. Try to stay ahead of the game, and if you can, send a check, or pay John Kern, the next time that you see him. He takes cash and credit cards. Please don’t make him chase you. He’s a busy man, and has a lot of other things to take care of. Our annual dues are still $100.
Cedarville Shares:
If you are interested in owning a piece of this beautiful Lodge and Park property, please contact Steve Petruzelli at [email protected] or 503-620- 3447 to purchase Cedarville Shares. Property located at 3800 W Powell Loop, Gresham, OR 97030. Cedarville Share.
Cedarville Lodge & Park Rentals:
If you or someone you know are in need of a beautiful venue to rent for an event, please think Cedarville Lodge first. The club’s bookings are finally starting to pick up again, after this pandemic, but we can still use a little help. Please contact our Venue Director, Maria Duong, at 503-577- 8471 and she will be more than helpful and gracious in getting you all the info that you may need, and to also help you with coordinating your event.
Thoughts & Prayers:
Let’s please pray for and think about our members that can use an extra prayer this month. Ari Sardo Masi (Daughter of member Daniela Sardo).
Merilyn Burchak (Doug Burchak’s mother). Our very own, Kelly Barasch. Kelly will be sidelined for a bit having to have back surgery next week. She’s a trooper and will come through this with flying colors I’m sure! Kelly is one of our newest members, who most of you already know and brings a huge amount of positive energy into our club and to our members. Kelly has not only helped me and the club but has also settled into her role as our new “Competition Chairperson and Membership Services” of our bocce league. Kelly, you will be missed but I know that you will be back soon and better than ever. We will all pray for you and your speedy recovery so we can see you, your smiling face and your positive personality real soon! If you have anyone that you would like to include in our “Thoughts & Prayers” section, please let me know, so I can include them in our next newsletter.
LaCarota Question:
Well, well now, it looks like we have another member challenging our “Wine Winning G.O.A.T” – (Mario Pompei). Chris “Superfly” Siri, has won yet another bottle of our coveted Vino. Chris is dominating the wins this year so far. He again proves that if you don’t play, you can’t win. Will Chris continue his reign, or will we get a new winner in the mix. Will Mario “The Masher” Pompei, pick himself up, dust himself off and get back in this race, or is he officially retired and on the shelf? Will we hear from Jimmy “Bam Bam” Burch, who was on a tear earlier, but has dropped off the map as of late? Will we have a fresh face rookie breaking the ranks? We will see what happens. So this month’s question is about Club Paesano and a historical year in our history. My question to our members is, “What happened to Club Paesano in 2005? That’s it. Pretty simple! If you would like to derail “Superfly Siri” then throw your answer into the hat. Let’s see if we can get a new winner. All correct answers will have a chance to win the “Holy Grail”. Good Luck. *Note*- Due to our LaPolenta Dinner in lieu of our June’s meeting, this winner will be drawn at our July’s meeting along with July’s winner.
Final Thoughts:
As I mentioned earlier in the newsletter about the Spring Dance, I noticed that our attendance was down at the dance. In fact it was a bit lower at the Carnevalle Dance too. It seems like we have had to depend on our Charity partners and our outside attendees to bring in guests. I know that we are all busy and that our events can’t always be our number one priority, I totally understand that. We can only be in one place at one time. If you can’t make it, try to give your tickets to someone that you think will have fun at our events and hopefully become a regular guest of ours, maybe even a member. It all helps us in a positive way. You are paying for those tickets anyway so try not to let them go to waste. If there are some changes or ideas that you would like to see implemented, please don’t hesitate to let me know. I’m very easy to get a hold of and welcome any feedback that you may have. Anything that you feel may make our events better or draw more people. We’ve bounced back from Covid and have had some very successful events since that, and as president and a member, I would love to see all of our CP events do well! Obviously life happens, and they can’t all be as good as the last, but let’s do our collective best to make them the greatest! We have a fantastic club that we belong to. In speaking with other Italians, that belong to other clubs, believe me, we have something terrific here! There are a few Italian clubs in the Portland / Vancouver area, but none of them can boast of the things that we have. A beautiful Lodge built on a huge park with an amazing amount of property. None of the other clubs have that and trust me, from all of the conversations that I have had with other club members, they all have told me how lucky we are to have what we have. I know it and I know that a lot of you get it too. Let’s do our best to take advantage of it. Enjoy your club, use your club and take the time to get to know your fellow members that are around you. You just might be surprised at who you get to know and end up becoming friends with. Let’s all do our best to enjoy our CP Famiglia and everything it has to offer! Enjoy and take care of yourselves!
Sempre Italiano e ti Saluto
Rick