October 2025 LaCarota
President’s Message:
Ciao, come stanno tutti? Spero che stiate tutti bene! As always, I hope that this newsletter finds you all happy, healthy and safe! Wow, so much to cover! I just recently got home from my trip back to the mother country, “L’Italia”. It’s the country that started it all for most of us. Whether your ancestors originated from there or you were born there yourself, it’s our country of heritage and a place to be proud of. I’ve had the great fortune of being able to have ventured there many times. My father still has his family home there and we still have family and friends there. My parents were born in the same town. It’s a small town in the mountains called Picinisco. An ancient town that was established in 1017. Can you imagine a small town that is 1008 years old! My goodness, that’s old! All the other towns in the area are beautiful as well. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times, if you still haven’t had the opportunity to go to Italy, please, do yourself a favor and go. Even if it’s once in your life, GO! It was great to be in Italy and to spend time with my parents, it was perfect. My parents don’t live close to here, so my time spent with them is very special to me. As much as I loved being there and being with my folks, it’s also nice to be home with my family and friends. Getting back to the grind and visiting the club once again. Thanks to our VP, John Benagni and board member Mario Pompei for running last months meeting and also to Debbie Calcagno Guthrie for getting the newsletter out. I hope that you have all had a great latter half of summer and enjoyed it all. It’s so hard to believe that we are at the end of it and that Fall begins today. Football season is back in the air and soon the temps and leaves will start falling. Not my favorite, but I know that many like this time of the year, so enjoy it before the winter hits. We have many events going on at the club in the upcoming months, so let’s get ready and enjoy them all!
Member’s BBQ:
Thank you to everyone that was able to attend the Member’s BBQ. I hear that it went well and that the food was fantastic! Thank you to all of you that came in and helped to prepare and cook the food. As always, I’d like to send a special shout out to Marc Battilegga for planning and arranging the meal. Jimmy Calcagno, Domenic Giusto and everyone else that helped in the kitchen and made it a special day. It’s an appreciation dinner, so we’d like to thank all of you that have helped throughout the year for volunteering, helping, promoting and being involved! We thank you for that! Club Paesano is only as strong as our members, so let’s keep up the good work. Thank you!
Columbus Day Dance:
On Saturday October 11th we will be celebrating Columbus Day and bringing back this event that has been postponed now for a couple of years. A committee headed up by Joe Castellano was formed to bring this event back and to also celebrate Club Paesano’s 70th anniversary. Joe compiled a committee of members from not only CP, but other local Italian clubs too. This year’s event will be “Semi-formal”, including a sit down 5 course meal prepared by our very own chef, Greg DeMaestri. Greg and his staff will prepare a wonderful 5-course meal served to you at your table and will have you wanting more. A night of entertainment will follow our meal. It will start off with Jamie Goetz,as he sings all of old blue eyes, “Frank Sinatra’s” favorites. After that, hold on to your cannoli’s, our featured entertainment will be none other than the “Uncle Louie Variety show”. Lou Greco and Carlo Russo have been touring North America with their songs, jokes and different Italian characters for years. If you’ve never heard of them or had a chance to listen to them, please go to Youtube or Facebook. Their brand of comedy will surely make you laugh! Tickets are on sale now on our website, www.clubpaesano.org. Please get yours now before they run out. There is still time, and tickets are available at last check. This is for 21 yrs and older and is open to the public, so invite all your family and friends! Hope to see you all there. If you have a business that you would like to promote, the committee is putting together a Columbus Day book, where you can advertise your business in. Please contact one of the committee members for more information. Joe Castellano, Marc Battilega, Greg DeMaestri or Anna Nassib.
Halloween Dance:
On Saturday October 25th, we will be celebrating our annual “Halloween Dance”. Doors will open at 5:30pm and we will party the night away till 11pm. Marc and his family will be serving up his “World Famous” Spaghetti & Meatball dinner, followed by dancing from “Crescendo Skye”. We’ve had this band here before and everyone loves them. They will have you out on the dance floor burning up the carbs from that wonderful dinner. Our charity partner will be one of our favorites, the “Pink Sistas”. They are not only a great charity that does wonderful things for women and breast cancer awareness, but I can honestly say that Deb Hart and her members have become fantastic friends to Club Paesano! She and her crew know what it takes to not only raise money for their cause but bring in a whole lot of people that want to party and have a great time. We are a perfect combo and partnership! I’m so glad to have met her. Tickets are on sale now, so go to our website at www.clubpaesano.org to purchase yours now. This is one of our best events and could be a sellout, so don’t wait, get yours now! There will be a costume contest as well so be original, wear a costume and bring home a prize. Costumes are optional, but I recommend them. It’s always a fun time! As always, invite your family, friends, co-workers, and advertise as much as you can. Let’s do our best to make this party huge and a “SELLOUT”! See you there!
Christmas Bazaar:
Last year we tried something new. Club Paesano partnered with “Gather Arts” (Bridget and Micheal Merrill) to bring you our very 1st “Christmas Bazaar”. It was a 2-day event that featured craft, food and drink vendors, craft classes, music and everything else that you’d have to bring in the holidays. I believe that we had at least 600 guests coming to our club between the 2 days of activities. It was such a success that we have decided to make it an annual event, and we have booked it again for Saturday and Sunday, November 15th and 16th, so mark your calendars. There will be a lot more details to come, but if you are a vendor and you do have crafts or something that you’d like to sell, please contact Bridget Merrill-Haines (971-269-6316) Michael Merrill (564-219-6805) or myself, Rick Cervi (503-891-7374) to reserve a table. All Club Paesano Members will be given a discount on booth rentals. Please stay tuned, there will be more information to follow.
Paesano Bocce Club:
Even though our summer leagues are over, bocce is still rolling along with the start of our Fall season. We started it off with a rainy and soggy day, but our members are troopers and played through it with 3 games of fun. We are only a week into it, so if you would like to sign up, there is still room for players. Every Sunday morning starting at 8:30am till 12pm we will meet. We will continue to play from now until Mother Nature forces us to stop. We will meet up at the courts for games, competition and fun. Every Sunday you will be picked randomly and placed on a team of 4 to compete against other teams and try to gain points that will be tallied up at the end of the season for bragging rights. You will play 3 games, then be given the chance to “Shoot” 4 balls for bonus points. We added this to help with and to teach players how to shoot the ball, which is also an important part of the game. This will be our 3rd season and has proven to be a fan favorite. If you can’t make it every Sunday, no worries. This season is for individual points, and we will play with whoever can make it. It’s also a great chance to play with other players of all calibers and a good way of meeting other players that play on different nights. The cost is $25. After an awesome season of league play and tournaments, I am so excited to announce the opening of our very first indoor league! Cedarville Lodge and the Paesano Bocce Club have come to an agreement to have our bocce club build courts inside of the lodge so that we can hold league play all winter long. This is very important and exciting news for us and hopefully all of you! This will be a great way to hone your skills all year long and also give you something to do during the long winter months! We’ve heard that some of our members have gone to play at that “Other” place in town but have complained about the quality of the courts. Well, that’s because their 1st love over there is Pickleball, not bocce ball! At our indoor courts we will do our best to offer you the highest quality courts that we can. We are giving back to our members, so I hope that our members come back home to play and make this a huge success. Along with our 3 courts, we will offer a “no – host” bar and a grill for “pub style” food. We will have a seating area with tables so you can eat and watch the games as they are played. Our initial plans will be to run leagues from Monday to Thursday nights and afternoons. Friday through Sunday will be for bocce court rentals. If you’d like to come out and play a few games with your families and friends, you’ll be able to rent the courts at an hourly rate. Play, eat, listen to music and have a fun time! Go to our website at www.paesanobocce.com to stay up to date on our new endeavor and for any other information. Thank you to all of you that volunteered and helped our board to get the job done. If you are interested in getting more involved with decisions and discussions involving the future of Paesano bocce, please let us know. See you on the courts!
New Membership applications & Board elections:
Hard to believe, but we have already come to that time of the year again. It’s time to bring in new members and vote for new and returning members of the board. If you have someone that is interested in becoming a member and are the type of person that will bring good things to our club, then have them fill out an application and please bring it to our next membership meeting. Our deadline is usually the end of September, but I will extend it to the end of October if we have people that are truly interested. Please make sure that they understand who we are, what we do, and what is expected from them. Make sure that they have attended some of our events and are willing to do what it takes to become a true Paesano! We will also have openings on the board of directors, including my position as your President and several board positions. If you feel that you would like to become a board member and can bring some new and productive ideas and energy to our wonderful club, then step up and either get nominated or self-nominate. If you have a person in mind that you think would be a benefit to our board then speak to them and if they are willing, then nominate them. We will also be looking to vote members in for our “Member of the Year”. This is our club my friends, let’s do all that we can to keep it strong and to keep it alive! We have all done our best to do just that. It’s time for everyone to be involved and to help this club out. Now more than ever! Please go to our website at www.clubpaesano.org for new member applications.
Thoughts & Prayers:
I was sorry to have missed Carlos’s Celebration of Life. I was told that it was wonderful. All his family, friends and Paesano’s were there. So many great stories and heartfelt memories of a truly great man! I can just hear all of the great things that people were saying. I truly miss him. We all miss him! As I was gone, I also learned of the passing of Augostino “Augie” Giusto. Augie is Domenic’s father and was one of our original members. Augie was also elected to our very 1st CP Board of Directors. If you ever go into our boardroom, look at the names engraved on the table. Augie’s name is on it. Augie was a huge part of making Club Paesano what it is today and one of the original members that worked on our building that was originally condemned when the Paesano’s 1st purchased it. Domenic and his family would like to invite all of us to join them for Augie’s Celebration of Life. It will be held at Club Paesano on Sunday October 19th at 4pm. Food will be provided and it will be prepared by our Greg DeMeastri. Domenic asks us to bring a story about Augie and a smile! I’d also like to send some prayers out to Jim & Jeanie Burch.
If you have anyone that needs our thoughts and prayers, please let me know early so I can add it to our newsletter.
LaCarota Question:
I know that you all missed the fact that we didn’t have a question last month. Sorry, I didn’t do a newsletter because of my trip. I figured that you needed a break anyway! Lol! We did have our July question that was won by none other than Jimmy “Bam Bam” Burch. I can safely call Jim one of the top 3 winners. Jimmy wins, because Jimmy plays! If you want to be in the top 3, or 4 or 10, you must play! So, what will this month’s question be? I got it. Seeing I was just in Italy, and it was August, I would like you to name 3 big events that take place in August and the 3 different cities that they take place in. Name all 3 and your name will be in the running for our coveted bottle of vino. Let’s see if we can get someone new on the winners board.
Club Paesano Dues:
If you need to pay your membership dues, or any other payment that you may owe the club, please contact John Kern at 503-519-5590 or email at johnk@botsfordgoodfellow.com. 5427 SE Thiessen Rd, Milwaukie, Or 97267 A member to be in good standing each member is required to pay yearly dues of $100.00 on or before the June membership meeting. Each member is also required to purchase two tickets to each of the four major events: Mardi Gras, Spring Dance, Concert in the Park, and Halloween Dance
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.
Cedarville Park Shares:
Need a good reason to purchase Cedarville Shares? Get Astronomical savings on Park Rentals and save Thousands!
If you are interested in owning a piece of this fantastic place and would like to purchase shares, please contact Steve Petruzelli at 503-620-3447 or email him at sdpetruzelli@comcast.net .
Final Thoughts:
There is so much going on in the world today. After being on vacation for a month, I really noticed how disconnected I became from our everyday news. I guess that I really enjoyed my time with my parents, family and being in a country where it all began. Suddenly reality kicked back in when I found out about the death of Charlie Kirk. All at once, everyday life came back with a vengeance. We all know how we felt. We have all heard the talking heads and their points of view. I’m not bringing this up to regurgitate all of that but to just agree with one main point. We all need to be able to speak our points of view and have conversation without the worry of being censored, fired, threatened or worse! We should be able to do it without fear but with an openness to learning. Maybe an idea or a fact that you didn’t know. I know that most of us are already like that but would like to reiterate that Club Paesano will always be that place. It’s a place to have that discussion and conversation and to learn from one another without any fear or persecution. We will always respect each other’s opinions and beliefs and know that we are safe in doing it in our house, our club! We are all a part of the Paesano Famiglia. Love, respect and enjoy one another. Life has shown us that it can sometimes be short, so enjoy the time that we have! Much love to all of you!
Ti Salute,
Rick