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December 2025                                                       LaCarota

President’s Message:

Hello, my fellow Club Paesano members. I hope that this edition of our newsletter finds you all happy, healthy, and safe! I hope that you are all doing well. Hopefully we are all getting into the holiday spirit with Thanksgiving just around the corner and Christmas 5 weeks away. The night and mornings are definitely a bit chillier now and most of the leaves have fallen from the trees. It’s the time of year that puts you in the mood for hot apple cider, hot chocolate, a cake doughnut and a Cider mill. Be careful if you are cleaning gutters or trimming branches, we want to see everyone in one piece. Please enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday, hopefully surrounded by family and friends and eat till your heart’s content! It’s the holiday season and what family, friends, peace, love and happiness are all about. Enjoy!

Artisan Holiday Bazaar:

Are you all feeling festive yet? Well, we should, especially after our Artisan Holiday Bazaar we hosted along with Gather Arts at the lodge this past weekend. Unfortunately, I couldn’t attend but I heard that it went very well. We had roughly 300 guests come through the door to enjoy and purchase crafts, classes, food and drink. I’m sure that it put everyone in the holiday spirit and hopefully they got a jump on their Christmas gift shopping too. For all of the holiday events and other bazaars happening around town, I’d say we did very well, not to mention that once again, we were able to showcase our beautiful lodge to the public. I hope that it will lead to some rentals in the future! I want to give special thanks to “Gather Arts” Bridget Merrill- Haines, Micheal and Sam Merrill for setting this all up for the 2^nd straight year. They are the heart and soul of this event and the engine that drives this holiday train. They got the vendors in, advertised, set up and got people through the doors to experience our wonderful club and many for their very 1^st time. Many commented on how nice it was and if we rented it out. It is so important for our future. Bridget and her daughter, Matti Wade, also gave away free Italian sodas to everyone that purchased a ticket. Now that’s a great deal! These are the type of events we need to get a variety of people through our doors. Especially the ones that would never have come otherwise. I’d also like to give thanks to all of our members that came in each day to help run the event and make things happen for CP. As always, Marc Battilega for running our kitchen and getting the meals out. Jimmy Calcagno and Mario Pompei for running the bar. John Benagni for making sure that our POS System ran all day. Debbie Calcagno- Guthrie for running the door and ticket sales. John and Lisa Kern, Dino Gavazza, Tom Allibastro, Lynn Piraino, Daniela Sardo, Bob Bevelaqua. Greg and Lori DeMaestri for running our CP & Bocce table. Here’s another special shout out to Miranda Vandervort (Mario & Jayne’s daughter) from “Gimme Some Sugar Confections” who brought in her own “Slushy” machine to make drinks to sell for us. She donated all her time and proceeds to us. Very nice! That’s what I’m talking about! People volunteering and helping the cause! Thank you to all of our members who showed up, spent money and helped everyone out financially. That goes a long way as well. Hopefully we can do this again next year!

Club Paesano Christmas Party:

Believe it or not we have come to that time of the year again. The Christmas season and our annual Members Christmas Dinner on Sunday December 7^th. This event has always been a crowd pleaser and an event to appreciate all our members. It’s a wonderful dinner that brings all of us together to bring in the Christmas spirit, Club Paesano style. We’ll start off with a cocktail & social hour followed by our wonderful dinner that will be catered in. Next will be the introduction and swearing in of new BOD members and to give thanks to those who are stepping down. Also, an introduction and swearing in of our new members and the special announcement for our member of the year. This evening would not be an evening without us singing Christmas Carols, with such favorites as “The 12 Days of Christmas, Silent Night” and the ever popular, “Domenic the Christmas Donkey” led by our very own crooner, Mario “Give me the mic” Pompei. We may even get a visit from good old St. Nick himself. He usually stops in after he checks his “Naughty & Nice” list. Hopefully we’ve all been good this year so he’ll drop in. Expect a call from Marc Battilega inviting you and giving you all the other details as well. Try to have an answer for him so we can let the caterer and Santa know how many Paesanos will be attending.

Paesano Bocce Club:

We are so excited to start our 1^st Indoor Bocce league in our lodge. It will be starting this January and will go till the end of April. It’s a new endeavor for us, so we are doing everything we can to make it as smooth and enjoyable as possible for everyone. The most important ingredient that we need is players of course. We have open enrollment right now and are looking for more people to sign up. We still have room. What a great activity to chase the winter blues away and to stay active in the winter months. Come on in and enjoy our warm lodge and play on 3 carpeted courts that will be straight and smooth. The atmosphere will be great, and we will have a bar and grill for your eating and drinking pleasure. Sports will be on the big screens and music on the speakers. It will have a “sports bar” type feel which will include a dinner and watching area as well. This will also give those of you that play in our summer leagues the chance to play in the winter now and hone those skills that you acquired and a great way to keep the rust off in the winter months. We will be open for nightly leagues, Monday through Thursday with open bocce in the afternoons and Friday evenings. We are compiling players and teams right now. If you don’t have a team and want to play, no worries, we will find you a compatible team to play on. We are currently scheduling league nights and weekend tournaments, so please go to our website at www.paesanobocce.com to sign up for leagues, tournaments and to get all of your bocce information. You can also contact the Paesano Bocce Board officers, Mario Pompei, Rick Cervi, and Lori DeMaesatri anytime. I’d like to give a shout out and wish congratulations to 4 of our members that went to Dallas Texas to play in the Lone Star Bocce challenge two weeks ago. Ben Mititiero, Butch Mason, Cody Mason and myself, Rick Cervi took 2^nd place out of 32 very talented teams from across the US and even a team from Canada. The competition was strong and experienced, but we put our heads down and went to work. We played hard and showed them that we could keep up with the ‘Big Dogs”. At the end of the tournament, they found out who the boys from the PNW were. We went there to represent Paesano bocce and to put us on the map. Although we didn’t bring home the Gold, I’d say we made our presents known and a 2^nd place finish in such a tough field is pretty darn good! This past weekend, we also had several Paesano Bocce members that hit the road to Reno NV. We all played in the 39^th annual Peppermill tournament. It was a great weekend with a lot of food, fun and great competition. I am happy to report that we had 2 teams that finished both one and two in the silver division. Congratulations go to CP and PBC members, Danny Taylor, Vince Moore, Brad Cotton Betty Hanson, Joaquim Cretcian and Tyson Nunnally for representing our club and playing some great bocce throughout the weekend. We are still raising money for our outdoor bocce court cover. We are a 501-C3, so your charitable donation will be a write off on your taxes. We are still selling Advertising signs, engraved pavers and a lot of bocce swag. Please go to our website to order or speak to one of our board members. www.paesanobocce.com

Here is a Message from the Paesano Bocce Club Board

Paesano Bocce Club is a 501c3 not for profit Bocce Club. Our Purpose is to promote, preserve, and educate Italian Heritage and Culture through the sport of Bocce. As of 2026 we are now a year-round Bocce Facility. SUMMER LEAGUES are held outdoor on four (4) synthetic carpet on concrete courts, 82 ft by 11 ft. and run June through August. FALL LEAGUES run Sunday Morning on four (4) synthetic carpet on concrete courts, 82 ft by 11 ft. and run September until the rain comes. WINTER LEAGUES are held inside Cedarville Lodge on three (3) carpeted courts, 72 ft by 10 ft. and run mid-January through mid-April. TOURNAMENTS ~ We have several open Bocce tournaments throughout the year. Membership entitled you to play anytime the courts are not being utilized for leagues or rentals. It also entitles you to play in the corresponding league. You can sign up your own team of four (or five to have subs) or just join and we can find you a team. Just let us know, “I need a Team.” The Fall League format is a little different. (We draw teams out of a hat. I can explain more in detail if you are interested) Bocce Balls are provided for all League Play and Tournaments. We do not rent them out. (They are Available for Parties and Event Rentals) If you are interested in purchasing a set of balls, I can give you contact info to purchase your own. We are a private Bocce Club so playing on the courts is for “members only”. Guest of members are welcome to play indoors for a fee. PARTY AND COURT RENTALS, Bocce Courts are also available for Parties and Events. (Balls Provided). Enjoy your Corporate Parties and Social Events. Bocce is fantastic for Team Building, Social Hour, your Holiday Party.  Have your Kids Birthday or any Special Occasion and play some Bocce or just get a bunch of your friends together for some fun. Club Paesano Members and Friends, help spread the word. If you have any more questions please do not hesitate to ask! We would love to have you join our Bocce Family. Just email mario@paesanobocceclub.com. Please Visit our website for updates. https://paesanobocce.com/ or follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/PaesanoBocceClub

 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 .

Thoughts & Prayers:

Our CP family has lost another great member. Long time member Jerry Dindia passed away last week after his long battle with cancer. Jerry and his wife Sharron were very active with CP and were also members of the Paesano Bocce family as well. He will truly be missed by all. There will be a service Saturday December 13^th at St Phillip Neri. 2408 SE 16^th Ave, Portland Or. 97214.  Not sure of the time as of this La Carota. As soon as I find out, I will let you know. I am also sorry to have to report on the loss of 2 other past members, Philip Frank Amodeo and Paul Raab, who also passed away last month. I will let you know if there is any information about services for these members as well. Please keep our Jim Burch in your prayers. Jim is going through Chemotherapy for cancer but is looking great and keeping his moral high. We were happy to see him last week at our Monday night social. Thoughts & prayers go out to all CP Members and their families. Please contact me if you have anyone, you’d like to add that may need some extra love and prayers.

LaCarota Question:

Don’t look now, but we had another new wine winner to add to our list. Congratulations go out to Daniela Sardo, for winning last month’s contest. Will Daniela be able to go for 2 in a row or can we get another brand-new winner. We have now had two “newbies” in a row. Let’s get another person. For those of you that don’t usually answer the question, please give it a try. You never know, it can be addictive! Seeing that we are coming up to our annual elections my question will pertain to our Board of Directors, specifically the President. My question is two parts and here it is. Please give me the name of our very 1^st President and give me the name of our member who has served as our president for the greatest number of years and how many years total did they serve for? That’s it. Very easy I’d say. All correct answers will be entered to win our coveted bottle of vino and maybe start a winning streak of their own! Good luck.

2025 BOD, New members & Member of the year:

Ballots are included in this edition of LaCarota. Please think about your choices and elect the person that you think will be the best candidate for the position and also our member of the year candidates.

Final Thoughts:

As we come upon this election season, I’d like you all to think about the best candidates for the open positions. Times are changing and I’d like you to think about the best members that can pivot, change with the times be flexible and just want the best for our club. Members that want to put our club 1^st and are willing to work hard and are also able to have our members do the same. We need strong members that will be involved and won’t shy away from new ideas and to go out to make things happen. It takes a lot of effort, but I know that we have people that can do just that. This is our club and is very much worth keeping. It’s a place that our forefather’s bought, set up and left for us to gather, enjoy and to be proud of with all our families. It’s a place that they gave to us to maintain and to hand over to our children and their families. It shows in the name alone, “Club Paesano”, “Countrymen”! Our club that our fellow Italians can be proud of and brag about. It’s all ours, let’s do whatever is necessary to keep it alive and well! Let’s do what we feel is the best for our future. I will have one more newsletter to write next month. I can’t believe it will be my last one.  Till next month, have a great Thanksgiving and be with your loved ones. Let’s never forget to give thanks for all we have and never forget to think about and help those in need. Ti Salute! Rick.

November, 2025                                                     LaCarota

Presidentes Message:

Ciao miei cari membri. As Always, I hope that this month’s newsletter finds you all happy, healthy and safe! Hard to believe that we are turning the page on yet another month and we are about 2 months from closing the chapter on another year! Unbelievable how much time flies when you are having fun! Before we know it, we’ll be sitting in front of another wonderful turkey dinner, (Or ham) watching football and giving thanks for everything the good Lord has given us. Although I miss summer, there’s something about bringing in the holiday season. All the happiness and joy surrounding the holidays and being able to share it with all your loved ones. The dinners and get togethers, the good times and laughter, just bring a warm feeling to our hearts! It just gives us all the time and reasons to be together with the ones we love, and to get off the fast lane of life for a spell. Take advantage of it and enjoy!

Columbus Day Dinner:

On Saturday October 11^th, we celebrated our 1^st Columbus Day dinner at the club. Unfortunately, my family and I could not be there due to previous plans, but I heard from many that I missed a wonderful night! So good that maybe we should consider making it an annual affair. The food was excellent, and the entertainment was pretty good! I heard from many that the comedians were pretty good, but the Frank Sinatra impersonator really stole the show. Even though he only did a few songs, the feedback was outstanding. I was told that he has an orchestra as well. Perhaps an entertainment idea for next year? I thank all the members that were able to come out and support this new event. It was different than our normal events, and I truly believe that we should incorporate a few things that are different. I’ve been saying this for a long time now, and finally we did it. I’d like to thank our Columbus Day committee for putting on this event. Joe Castellano, Anna Nassib, Marc Battilega, Greg DeMeastri, Theresa Rosseto– Barney and Debbie Calcagno- Guthrie. Thank you, Chef Greg and his staff, for preparing such an outstanding meal. I’m sure that it wasn’t easy, but you made a lot of people smile! I would also like to thank and give a special shout out to Bridget Merrill- Haines and Micheal Merrill. Bridget created and donated all the beautiful center pieces that were on the tables that night. They were a perfect addition to a classy night. Thank you all and here’s to making it an annual event.

Halloween Dance:

On Saturday October 25^th, we had our annual Halloween dance with our charity partners, “The Pink Sista’s”. They have been with us for the past 3 years now and once again, they helped us make it a great event! Our musical entertainment, “Crescendo Skye” proved once again why they are one of Portland’s hottest bands. They kept us out on the dance floor till the end of the night. Thank you to Marc Battilega and crew for keeping everyone well fed with his “World Famous” spaghetti & meatball dinner. Thank you for all your hard work and constant dedication! The “Pink Sista’s” had an auction with a lot of very cool things to bid on. I’m sure that they did well and brought in a good amount of money. If I find out how much, I’ll let you know. I understand that we all have busy schedules and sometimes have previous engagements, but I was a little disappointed at the number of members who didn’t show up. Again, I know that we are all busy, but I feel that we should make a better effort to attend our events. We only have 4 of them a year, and without member participation, it’s hard to be successful going forward. The way that I look at it is you are paying for those tickets, anyway, why not enjoy them or at least give them to someone that you know who will enjoy the event. It’s your club, let’s keep it alive and well.

Artesian Holiday Bazaar:

On Saturday November 15^th & Sunday November 16^th we will be having our 2^nd annual Artesian Holiday Bazaar. This event proved to be a success, so we are doing it again. Club Paesano in combination with “Gather Arts” will run this event mainly inside our beautiful lodge. There may be some activities outside under the pavilion but for the most part, it will be mainly indoors. Last year we had about 600 guests that came and enjoyed it. Hopefully we will double the number this year. We’ll have 30 vendors, entertainment, food and drink to purchase along with some children’s activities. If you are a vendor and would like to rent a booth for one or both days, please contact Bridget Merrill – Haines at 971-269-6316 or Micheal Merrill at 564-219-6805 for more information and rental rates. We will be giving a Club Paesano discount for a booth if you are a current CP member. As you know, putting on an event like this requires some help and volunteers to get the work done to make it a success. Club Paesano will be operating the bar and the kitchen, so I’m looking for members to help in both places. With enough people willing to help, we can set up shifts, so everyone has the chance to enjoy the bazaar as well. The days will run from 9am till 4pm, so it won’t be very long. If you are available for one or both days, please let me know the days and times that you are willing to work so that I can try to accommodate you. Please email me at rchabs23@hotmail.com or Call/Text at 503-891-7374 to volunteer. You can also go to our website at www.clubpaesano.org to get all the bazaar details through our flier. You can also visit our Facebook site as well. We are only as successful as the work that we put in. I hope to see you all there!

Paesano Bocce Club:

The Paesano Bocce Club is in the middle of our Fall season but unfortunately Mother Nature is not being a great teammate. Because of the constant rain that we’ve been receiving on the weekends, it’s been difficult to play and we’ve had to cancel a few of our Sunday mornings. We are keeping the season open at this time until further notice so hopefully we can still get a few more Sundays in. Mario will notify all of us via email if we decide to cancel a Sunday or when we decide to end the season, so please pay attention for that. As I stated in last month’s newsletter, I’m pleased to announce the Grand opening of our Indoor Bocce League starting in January 2026. Just like our summer leagues, we will offer 4 nights of league play from Monday through Thursday with Friday and Saturdays being open for hourly rentals for the public. We are trying to set up 2 afternoon leagues as well. Mario and the board sent out an email for team sign-ups. We have lowered the cost for our original dues and still have room for teams every night and afternoon, so if you want to get your team in, do so before it’s too late and we fill up. If you don’t have a team, no worries, we will find you a team to make sure that you can play and have fun.

We will be offering a bar and food (at cost) and a dining area to eat and watch some great bocce. Not only will you be able to catch some great live bocce being played, but on our HD big screen tv’s you’ll be able to catch a sporting match or maybe even a movie. We will try to give you that “Sports bar” feeling. On non-league nights, we will try to set up fun bocce games like “Combat, Monte Carlo or Cozmic” bocce for prizes and maybe bring in some entertainment too. We are still in the planning stages of doing extra things beside our leagues, so if you do have some idea for our off nights, please feel free to reach out to one of our bocce board members. President- Mario Pompei (503)-890-0656 / VP- Treasurer- Myself, Rick Cervi (503)-891-7374 or Officer Lori DeMaestri (503)-382-9941. We are so excited about this new endeavor that we are taking on, and we would love to have you all be a part of it. I can’t think of a better way to get rid of the winter blues, cabin fever, and the conundrums of the winter season. Come out and have a great time with your fellow bocce members and family. All are welcome, including young adults, so if you have people in mind that would like to come out and try it, bring them over. We will also have an open house before the league starts so you can come out and try our new facilities and to hopefully encourage some new players to join. There will be more and exact information to follow on that. To all Club Paesano members. Seeing the revenue from the bar and the kitchen will be coming to Club Paesano and not the bocce club, I will need members to volunteer sometime to help with both the bar and the kitchen. We’ll have at least one person per night to set up the bar, bartend and clean up the bar area at the end of the night. If you are interested in doing this job, a serving permit will be required, which is easily obtained online, and will need to learn how to use our “POS” SYSTEM, please contact me and we can go over all of the details and you can pick out the day or evening that works best for you. This will be the same for anyone that would like to volunteer in the kitchen. A “Food handlers” card is required and again, can be obtained online. It’s a nice night out and you will be helping our club out tremendously! Please contact me at by email, text or phone call. rchabs23@hotmail.com or 503-891-7374. This is going to be great so let the good times ROLL!

Election of New board officers and new CP members:

As you know, it is that time of the year again. The election of some of our Board of Directors and voting in any new members. There are quite a few board positions available, so if you have been wanting to sit on the board and feel that you can bring new ideas, energy, positivity and a good direction please let me know. Either self-nominate or have someone nominate you. We are looking for members that have the time to spend and will take this position seriously. If you want to be on the BOD, you need to put in the time and have the willingness to help and volunteer. The club is ever changing and is heading in a new direction. We are looking for people with vision and can sometimes look outside the box. If you are that person, then get your name on the ballet. The positions that will be open are, President, Vice President, Secretary, and 3 Officers. It’s a lot of positions but we need them filled. We are also accepting applications for new members. All applicants need to be energetic and willing to help. Hopefully they have been to some of our functions and know what we do here and what we are all about. We want people that will show up for meetings, CP events and have a willingness to want to be here. If you have that person in mind, their application needs to be submitted to me and the board no later than October 31^st.  Let’s keep our club moving forward with great ideas and a membership that are willing to make things happen!

Thoughts & Prayers:

On Sunday October 19^th, we were all invited to enjoy Augie Giusto’s Celebration of Life. This beautiful ceremony was put on by our Dominic Giusto and his family. It was so nice to see all the people that came together and celebrated Augie’s life and to hear all the wonderful stories about him. You could see what a popular and loved person he was. I really enjoyed all of the stories about his life, coming from Italy and growing into a success story in the produce business. Unfortunately, I never got the chance to meet Augie but I hear so many great things about him. He was an original member of CP and worked hard to build what we have here today. If it weren’t for guys like him, we wouldn’t be able to enjoy our club as we do now. Thank you, Augustino Giusto, and thank you Dominic for inviting us all. God bless each member and their families. If you would like to add anyone to our Thoughts & Prayers section, please let me know and I will be sure to add them here.

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 .

LaCarota Question:

Well now, don’t look now but we have a brand-new member of the “Winners Circle”. A “Rookie” at that, which really goes to show, that “You can’t win if you don’t play!” This was her 1^st time answering the question and it proved to be the winner. Congratulations go to Lori Colbert! Hopefully she’ll keep the momentum going and shoot up to the Vinos Champions level like Mario Pompei, Jim Burch and even myself from 5 years ago! Can Lori keep up, or will she be a “One hit wonder”? We will find out. Seeing that our winning prize is always the coveted bottle of vino, my question is going to be about this delicious beverage. So here it is. What year and in what province was wine first made in Italy?

There you have it. The best answer will win the “Holy Grail”. Good luck!

Final Thoughts:

As we come into the last 2 months of the year, we also come to the time of year when we need to elect our new board members. This is particularly important to me this year, because I will finish out my term as your President, and I would like to see our board remain strong and continue to build our Club and lead it into the best direction possible! That being said, I would like you all to look inside yourselves and ask yourselves if you are that person. Are you the person that has the time, dedication, energy and can put this club above a lot of things. We are in need of some strong people with good ideas that will also be able to carry out those ideas. It’s not always easy, but if there is a will there is a way, especially if it’s a benefit to Club Paesano and our longevity. The park is going through some big changes that affect us all. It affects all 3 groups equally. Cedarville, Club Paesano and Paesano Bocce Club. We must work with one another and act as a collective group. It’s the only way that we will stay right where we are. We have positions open and if you know that you are the right person for the job, then please nominate yourself for a position. Sometimes it can be hard and challenging, but at the end of the day, it is very satisfying to know that you have helped continue a wonderful tradition! Hopefully you are that person. At our November meeting you’ll have your chance to get on the ballot. Let’s always keep the best interest of our club in your hearts. Thank you.

Ti Salute, Rick

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 1^st 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 1^st 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 1^st 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 19^th 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

Urgent All Call For August 2nd – We Need All Club Members to Help!

President’s Message: 

Hello everyone and happy summer season to you all. As always, I hope that this newsletter finds you all feeling happy, healthy and safe! I’m enjoying it all. We have backyard BBQ’s, block parties, concerts, parks and beaches to have fun with. Family and friends to visit and go out with. Of course, we have our own events to take advantage of at Club Paesano. Some of us are playing bocce, and hopefully all of us will be attending our “Concert in the Park” on Saturday, August 2^nd. Whatever you’re up to, have fun and make the most of it all! I’m going back to the Mother Country, Italia, with my folks! I’m looking forward to getting back there with my parents to visit their town, other cities and especially our relatives. In fact, we have already been invited to a wedding. The party’s already starting, LoL! Take care and have fun! 

Concert in the Park: 

Well, believe it or not, that time of the year is already upon us. It’s “Concert in the Park” TIME! Yes, on Saturday August 2^nd we will celebrate our annual summer party! It’s only 2 weeks away. Unlike other years, this will be an all-day event, and an “All Hands-on Deck” event, meaning if you are in town, I’m hoping that you will not only be attending, but also volunteering to pick up a shift or two. There will be plenty of duties to be filled with different time slots. If you would like to have your choice, then I advise you to sign up early. I don’t want to assign you to a position and time, so please volunteer early, by contacting Kelly Barasch @ (971-806-9524) or Daniela Sardo @ (503-310-9127) for volunteer duties and time slots. If you don’t, and you are attending, then I will assign you a spot. I want this to be a fun event for all of us, but in order to do that, we will ALL need to help! Our set-up day will be Friday August 1^st starting at 11am. If you are not working during the day or can come out after work and volunteer for a couple of hours to set up tables and chairs, your help will be appreciated. We don’t have enough time to do it Saturday morning because the Farmers Market will be setting up at that time. The day’s events will include our very 1^st Farmers Market (being run by Bridget & Micheal Merrill) which will open at 10am and will go through 5pm. If you have something that you would like to sell and would like to rent a booth, please contact Bridget at 971-269-6316 for more information. Once again, our charity partner will be our Filipino friends, “Calabarzon”, which will hold their own mini concert in the lodge from 12pm till 4pm. They’re entertainment will include 3 Filipino singers from Las Vegas. Let’s help our friends out and attend their concert too. The ticket price for their event is $25, and all proceeds will go to their charity “Calabarzon”. They will also sell some of their favorite Filipino food. Their charity raises money to send a group of dentists over to impoverished towns in the Philippines. The dentists care for children at no cost, for those families that can’t otherwise afford it. It’s such a great cause. At 4:30pm, we will open the gates for our “Concert in the Park”!  Our famous Spaghetti & meatball dinner will be served at 5:30pm followed by our entertainment. “5 GUYS NAMED MOE” will be taking the stage at 6:30pm and will have you dancing the night away till 10pm. Our party will continue till 11pm or later. This is a “Family Friendly” event, so please bring the children out too. We will have children’s activities at the Farmer’s Market as well.Children’s prices are; 12-6 yrs old – $10 / Children 5 and younger are free! We’ve made it more affordable for our families. There are still plenty of tickets available, so let’s get online and purchase your tickets, to get your favorite seats. As always, please invite family, friends, co-workers and the general public. This event is open to all! Let’s all do a last-minute push to get more tickets sold! Let’s make it a “Sell-out” and have a whole lot of fun! Go to www.paesanoclub.org to purchase your tickets now. 

Paesano Bocce Club: 

Paesano Bocce Club is rolling along! We are 2 weeks away from our playoffs followed by our Championship Sunday on August 10^th. It’s so hard to believe that we are already so far along in our leagues. I guess it’s like we all say, “Time flies when you are having fun!”. It has been a very fun yet competitive season. All of our members are having a great time and have been spreading the word. We have received so much interest from new people that have either been recruited by our current members or have just looked us up. They are interested in playing bocce and heard that we are the best place to play. Well, I’ll 2^nd that! If you are not playing yet, what are you waiting for? If you have any interest at all, please come out to watch or arrange a date with one of our board members to meet at the courts to learn more about the game and to roll a few balls. Our board members, Mario Pompei, Doug Burchak, Kelly & Paul Barasch, Lori DeMaestri or myself, will be happy to help you with that. On the weekend of July 12^th and 13^th, we held our biggest tournament of the year, our “Aldo Rossi” Tournament. As always it was a great success! We had teams that came in from California and Washington. All the teams loved it and are already making their plans to come back. In fact, they want to bring others from their states. That’s awesome! We had 2 days of very good competition and tough play. I’m glad to report back that our Paesano bocce club faired very well and am very proud to say that “Pallino or Bust”, the team that I play for, took 1st place overall. The team consisting of Brad Cotton, Betty Hansen, Joachim Creten and myself. We had to work extra hard, going through the loser’s bracket to get to the finals. All of the games were close, but at the end, we were victorious! There are so many people to thank that made this whole tournament run smooth. 1^st of all, I’d like to thank our very own, Joe and Nick Rossi. They both stepped up and sponsored us with great funding to make this a great event! We were able to provide more prize money and pay for more places finished. We were also able to provide our players with breakfast, lunch and beverages and a huge Saturday night dinner, which everyone complimented. I’d like to thank our President, Mario Pompei, for putting his playing aside and ran the tournament. It was smooth and went off without a hitch. All our games were done quickly and were on track. Thank you for that! I’d like to thank the rest of the board for all that was done to make this tournament fantastic. Doug Burchak, Kelly & Paul Barasch, Lori DeMaestri and myself. We had months of planning, and we made it happen. I’d also love to thank our non-players and non-members that helped with food and serving. Jimmy Calcagno, Jim Burch, Debbie Calcagno, Jayne Pompei, Lynn Piraino, Diane Cervi, Jim Barnes, Mario Mastrangelo and Shawn Cage. To all the team members that came in to help set up and tear down too. If I’ve missed anyone, please forgive me. You are all appreciated so much! As you all know, Paesano Bocce is working hard to raise funds to put a roof over our beautiful courts. Doing so will promote more bocce in our area making the PBC the biggest and best place to play in the PNW! To do this, we need to raise a lot. If you are able to help us and donate funding, we are now a 501-C3. Your donations can be written off on your taxes. We will provide you with a receipt. Please reach out to our board of directors for more information. We also have Signs, for advertising or family, banners to place on our fence that faces the Spring Water trail (Great advertising location), personal pavers that are installed around our courts and tons of “Swag”. All proceeds from these sales will be put towards building our roof. If you own a company or work for a company that can sponsor our league or a tournament, we’d love that too! If you’d like a chance to play, or learn how to play, we will start our “Fall League” on Sunday September 7^th at 8am. This is a great chance for you to play with other members of all experience levels. For $25, we start playing on the 7^th and play till “Mother Nature” stops us because of the weather. Last year we played for 8 weeks. $25 for 8 weeks? What a deal. Whether you are new to the game or a seasoned vet, everyone is welcomed. Play starts at 9am and finishes at noon. You still have time to take advantage of the day! Please go to our website at www.paesanobocceclub.com for more information and to sign up for this and for anything else that’s bocce related. See you on the courts! 

Club Paesano Dues:

Our CP dues for 2025 are due on June 1st. Please contact our treasurer, John Kern to make arrangements for payments. Also please take care of any past payments of dues or dance tickets that you may still owe from our past events and 2024. Please take care of it sooner than later so John doesn’t have to chase you. John is a very busy man so let’s make it easy for him!

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 .

Thoughts and Prayers: 

It is with a very heavy heart that I announce the passing of one of Club Paesano’s best, Carlos Barajas. Carlos was fit and full of energy, so it was such a surprise to hear about it. I’m still trying to wrap my thoughts around it. Carlos was not only a great member, but a fantastic person. He was always willing to help out, whether it was for the club’s needs or if you needed help in your personal life. So many times, he would tell me that if I needed any help with a project, to call him. He was such a talented man that could do it all! Carlos had just returned from Las Vegas helping his daughter with a renovation to her home. A few months ago, he had to do a huge renovation to his own home. At our last meeting, he made sure to help me set up and said that he would be available to help all day at our upcoming Concert because this was the 1^st year that he wasn’t running in the Hood to Coast race. What a man! He gave me a bottle of wine out of his own collection and told me to bring it home and enjoy it with my family. I wanted to open it, but he said no, you need to take it home! He was so kind and always thinking of others! Like most, I considered Carlos a great person and a great friend! You will truly be missed, my friend. Rest in Peace. Carlos is survived by his loving wife, Maura (Potestio) and his children. Carlos married Maura and into the Potestio family. Our condolences go out to his family and to the Potestio’s. Phil, Micheal, Mike, Rick, Bill. I know that this is a huge loss and just know that your CP Famiglia is here for you all. The family is planning a Celebration of life near the end of August. We will make sure you all know when we have more details. Godspeed our friend! 

La Carota Question: 

Congratulations go out to Chris Siri for June’s bottle and Jim Burch for July’s. Jimmy was a one man show for July’s question, so the competition was slim, lol! It just goes to prove once again that you can’t win if you don’t play! This month’s question will be a fun one. I’m going to name a few Italians that changed their names when they became famous. I will give you their names beforehand and you will give me their celebrity names. 

1. Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaello Pierre Filbert Guglielmi di Valentina d’Antonguolla 

2. Angelo Siciliano 

3. Steven VictorTallarico 

4. Randle Poffo 

5. Mark Sinclair 

6. Ashley Nicolette Frangipane 

That’s it. Give me these Italians “Celebrity” names to win this month’s bottle of Vino. Let’s get some new winners! All correct answers will be entered to win. Good Luck! 

Final Thoughts: 

When I found out about the passing of Carlos, it again showed me how fragile life can be.  We tend to only think about the old and weak that can pass away. We never think about the strong and young. In an instance it can be taken away. Carlos was young and strong and had a zest for life. His smile would brighten the room, and his character was compassion and love. He was a genuine person with integrity and constitution. He will be truly missed by all! We all tend to have moments that fill us with dislike, disdain, jealousy, feeling down, or sorry for ourselves. We hold resentment and grudges. We all need to pick ourselves up and remember that all of this can be taken away from us in the blink of an eye. One day you are here enjoying life, and the next you could be gone. Not only you, but a loved one. This is not a message to depress, but to evaluate and think about how precious life truly is, and to make the best of what we have. Sometimes we just need to drop the negative and think about the positive. Let’s make the best of the great times and the great people that surround us. I personally enjoy my family and will make the most of my time in Italy with my parents. Say I love you and don’t go to bed angry. Trust me, I’ve been told this so many times. I know that you all know it too and don’t need to hear it from me, but I’ll say it anyway. Enjoy what you have, and let’s also love and enjoy our CP family. Make the best of our club and your fellow members! Here’s a salute for Carlos and to all of you. Live long and prosper! Ecco a 100 anni! Rick 

P.S. Due to my vacation next month, there will be no September newsletter. You may receive a slimmed down version from Debbie Calcagno Guthrie if she chooses to write one. Thanks 

Rick

July 2025                                                       LaCarota

*Note* There will be a Members Monthly meeting on Wednesday July 2^nd!

Presidents Message:

Hello everyone. As always, I hope that this month’s newsletter finds you all, happy, healthy, and safe! My favorite season, summer is officially here in 2 days, and I couldn’t be happier! Warmer days and nights with the longer days, just make me a happy man. I hope that you all are taking advantage of the season too. I’m working down south in Medford and am getting to see more of what this beautiful state has to offer. I’ve been here for 29 years now but have yet to see a lot of Oregon. If you’re into nature, it’s fantastic. Sometimes we get into that rut of working long hours, days, weeks, months, then years. Time goes by and we realize, where did it go? Seeing new things makes me realize that it’s worthwhile taking time out to explore, discover new things and just enjoy, without worrying about work and money all the time. Now don’t get me wrong, I’d be the 1^st person to say, “You need that money”, but you also have to take time out for yourself and your families too. As one once told me, “You need balance in your life, Ricky!” You know something, I absolutely agree, and as I get older, I’m realizing that more and more. Balance, the key to longevity! Let’s all try that. Enjoy your life, and everything that it brings you. Just do it!

Polenta Dinner / Scholarship Presentation:

On Wednesday June the 4^th, in lieu of our regularly scheduled CP Monthly Member’s meeting, we had our annual Polenta dinner and now our annual CP Scholarship Presentation. We invited all Italians in the area. We also presented scholarships for the 2^nd year in a row now. Once again, our dinner was delicious, and we had a great turnout with some members from other clubs. The Sons & Daughters of Italy from Vancouver represented well. We also had the families from our Scholarship winners join us for dinner and the presentation. All our candidates were so talented, and it was a very hard choice to pick just 3. Because we had some extra money in the funds, we decided to award 4 this year. We will always try to give at least 3 scholarships away every year, but if we can raise more, and there is a close decision again, we will try to give out more. Our scholarship fund is always looking to raise money for it, so if you are in the giving mood, we will always take a donation. Please see me or John Kern. Thanks again to Marc Battilega, Greg & Gianni DeMaestri for running the kitchen, and all the members who came in early to help set up and stayed to help clean up. Like a family event, it couldn’t have been done without all of you that participated. Thanks again to our Scholarship committee as well. We are already starting to work for next year’s batch of talented Italian students. Congratulation again to 2025 winner’s, Brady Angelo, Amelia Anderson, Stephen Crover and Nicolas Michaud. Our talented future!

Concert in the Park:

On Saturday August 2nd, we will have our 9th annual “Concert in the Park”. Like all our events so far this year, you can expect another change! With this year’s event, we will incorporate an all-day event! We will start the day off with a Farmer’s Market, run by our newest members, Bridget Merrill- Haines & Micheal Merrill which will lead into our Charity, “Calabarzon’s” musical event and fundraiser. After that, we will roll into our Club Paesano’s “Concert in the Park”. What a day we have in store for you! My advice to you all is to just take the day off and make it a “Club Paesano” Day & Night! Come in the morning to enjoy and purchase your fares at the Farmer’s Market followed by a Filipino lunch and concert. Taking a small break, to return and be thoroughly taken care of by our Club Paesano’s Concert in the Park, where you will eat a fantastic dinner then be entertained by the talented “5 Guys Named Moe”, who will have you dancing all night long! What a day! All taking place in the beauty that is Cedarville Park. I couldn’t think of a better place to hold such an event! The space, the trees, the fantastic food and entertainment. Where else can you go to enjoy such a diverse event with market, food and entertainment. What a melting pot of FUN! Our Concert in the Park will start at 4:30pm and will run till 11pm as usual but I am encouraging you all to please enjoy the whole experience that we are putting together for you! A farmer’s market, Mid-day concert and evening concert, with food, and drink to go along with it for the whole day!

With all that is happening and since this will be an all-day affair, I am declaring this to be an “ALL HANDS ON” event. We will need help from everyone, and any little thing that you can do will help. This is our club and our event. Let’s please do everything we can to help, volunteer and make this one of our best events to date! Everything we do is for our members and our club. I will get our “Volunteer Coordinators” very soon. Once they are announced, I would like for all of you that will be in town and attending to reach out to them to pick a position that you would like to work. Please help them, and let them know what rolls you can take to make this event great. If you don’t contact them, then they will be contacting you all. I want to see you all have fun and enjoy yourself. I want to see you with your families and all of your guests that you invite, but we will still need some help in putting this whole day together. Do your part, then enjoy the rest of the day. That’s all we need! More info will be forwarded to you all via email and July’s meeting. Let’s all have a great time, and also showcase our beautiful club and all that Club Paesano / Cedarville Park has to offer to our friends! Go to clubpaesano.org to purchase your tickets now for this day packed with fun! More info to follow.

Concert in the Park update: Concert tickets NOW AVAILABLE! Please go to our website at www.clubpaesno.org to get yours now. This is an all ages, “Family Friendly” event. We even lowered the price for children who are between 6 and 12 years of age to $10. Children 5 yrs and younger get in free. We will have kid’s activities to keep them all busy throughout the day. Kelly Barasch (971-806-9524) has once again stepped up to be our “Volunteer Coordinator”. Kelly and I will be putting together a sign-up sheet with the schedules of shifts and duties. I will announce it at our next meeting on Wednesday July 2^nd. Once again, this is an “ALL HANDS ON “Event. If you are in town, please plan on attending and volunteering some time. All of you are needed. Don’t forget to invite everyone you know. Let’s make a new attendance record! It will be FUN!

Paesano Bocce Club:

Well, it’s hard to believe, but the Paesano Bocce season has already completed its 3^rd week of play. We were waiting for it with so much anticipation, and low and behold we are hot and heavy into another season. Like the seasons before, our league continues to grow and has continued to provide us with better and better play. From our Monday night advanced to our Thursday night beginners, the quick improvement of talent and gamesmanship is very impressive to say the least. I’m impressed that even the newer players have locked into the game and their competitive sides are starting to show. Every night is fun, and our board continues to get such great feedback from so many of our members. Competition is great but the comradery, good times and laughter is what impresses me the most! Almost every night we’ll get a handful of people who are riding or walking on the Springwater trail stop by to see what all the fun is about. If you are interested in playing and being a part of all the fun, we still have opportunities for you to play. Most of our teams for the summer league are established, but we have a substitute list that you can get on, or you can sign up for one of our many tournaments throughout this summer. Please go to our website to check out our league and tournament schedules and everything else that’s bocce related. We always have room for more! If you need more information, please feel free to reach out to one of our board members.

Mario Pompei, myself, Kelly Barasch, Doug Burchak. Lori DeMaestri or Paul Barasch. We’ll be happy to help you out. As you all know, we are still trying to construct a roof to cover our 4 beautiful “World class” courts. We found out this year, that “Permits” are very expensive, so we aren’t as close as we thought we were, but we keep working hard to raise funding for this project. Every little bit helps! Any monetary donation will help tremendously. We are now officially a 501-C3 Non-Profit, so you can write off your donation on your taxes. We will give you a receipt. We also have a lot of Bocce merchandise and Swag, so if you want to look cool with the latest Paesano Bocce apparel, we’ll get you hooked up! We are still selling our personalized pavers which puts your name on our courts forever but also make a fantastic gift. If you walk around our courts, you will see them laid out. I’m very proud of being a part of our bocce club and would encourage you to come out and try it if you haven’t yet. I guarantee that you’ll have a great time!

Club Paesano Dues:

Our CP dues for 2025 are due on June 1st. Please contact our treasurer, John Kern to make arrangements for payments. Also please take care of any past payments of dues or dance tickets that you may still owe from our past events and 2024. Please take care of it sooner than later so John doesn’t have to chase you. John is a very busy man so let’s make it easy for him!

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 .

Thoughts & Prayers:

Thoughts and prayers go out to Greg DeMaestri’s (Lori – wife) Father in-law Tom Jorgensen. He’s been in and out of hospice but is holding on to life. Definitely a trooper that loves his family and isn’t ready to leave yet. Please keep him in your prayers. As always let’s pray for our CP members and their families. May the Lord keep all of us happy and healthy. If you would like me to add a family member or friend, please contact me before the end of the month so I can get it added.

LaCarota Question:

I haven’t picked a winner for last month yet because of our Polenta dinner but I had some of you answer last month’s question. I will draw June’s winner at our July meeting, so if you answered last month and you are going to answer this month’s question you just may be lucky enough to win double the Vino! Maybe you’ll even start up the winner’s ladder and try to catch up to high rankers, Like King Mario, Chris Siri, Jimmy Burch and so on. Get into the Winner’s Circle! You can’t win if you don’t play!

As we are having our Concert in the Park next month, August 2^nd, my question has to do with the event that preceded The Concert in the Park. What Italian event at the park preceded the Concert in the Park? Please give me the exact name of the event and when it was started.

That’s it. Easy Peezy get a bottle of wine. Maybe even two! All correct answers will be entered to win the coveted bottles of wine.

Final Thoughts:

In last month’s newsletter, I asked you to think about what being a Paesano meant to you and the reasons why you became a member of our club. There are all kinds of reasons I’m sure, but hopefully the main on was to be with fellow Italians, to carry on old and new traditions and to maintain and secure this club for as long as we can. This club was started in 1955. That was 70 years ago. Our goal as existing and new members should be to make it last another 70 years and beyond! Let us enjoy it and let our families that come after us enjoy it too. Of course, changing with the times is always in the cards and I believe that we have been and have been more aggressive about changing things up. Our events, our membership and always having the foresight to try something new. May we always stay flexible and roll with anything new that may come our way. In other words, may Club Paesano live on forever! Here’s to Paesano’s all over the world.

Ti Salute,

Rick

Presidents Message:

Ciao tutti, as always, I hope that this issue of LaCarota finds you all, happy, healthy and safe!

Has anyone been doing anything interesting? Vacations, or planning? Made any cool purchases? Maybe something you have always wanted or it just looked interesting. I just booked a trip back to the mother country, Italia. I know that our brother Mario is going soon, and a couple of our members have just returned. Daniela Sardo and Lynn Piraino enjoyed a vacation there. Hopefully you can all make it back, or for the 1st time, if you have never been. I hope that you are all getting ready for the nicer weather to come and getting a chance to enjoy everything that the outdoors have to offer. Enjoy everything that this great state has to offer you. A perfect mix of all!

Spring Dance:

Last Saturday, May 17th, we enjoyed our annual Spring Dance. This year we put a little twist on it by making it a country – western affair. As it turned out, the twist worked out and it was a great event! We’ve been trying to change things up a bit, and I have to say that everything that we’ve been trying has been a success! At our last Carnevale Dance in February, we tried using a DJ, for the 1st time in a long while. Huge success! Nothing but positive feedback. At our Spring Dance, we went with a Country- Western theme with a great band, and it was an even bigger success! This just proves to me that we can’t stay stagnant, we have to stay on top of things and we have to keep changing with the time! It’s the only way to stay relevant in this ever-changing world that we live in! We need to keep our members and the public interested in everything that we do so keeping it fresh really works! Even our famous Chef, Marc Battilega changed up his menu a bit. Mixed pasta with the most tender sausage ever. It was fantastic! I heard so many great things about the food. Everyone loved it. Marc, thank you for being flexible and creative, it really was a hit! I would also like to thank our VP, John Benagni and Sergeant of Arms, Greg DeMaestri for stepping up and chairing this event. Your help was noticeable and very helpful to me and our membership. The ideas and band you both brought in were fantastic. For those of you that missed this event, I have to say that you all missed a hell of a great time. The Sweetwater Band was unbelievably talented. They were a country band, but they had such a wide genre of music that they played. Country, rock, disco, Neil Diamond, etc. It kept everyone out on the dance floor all night long. If you’ve never had the chance to hear them, please look them up and go see them live. I guarantee that they won’t disappoint! Again, a great time had by one and all! Special thanks to all of you that came out in the morning to set up and stayed late to help clean up. As always, thank you to Marc Battilega and his whole family for running the kitchen and keeping us fed! Dino Gavazza, Lisa Kern, Larry & Becky Cereghino for assisting with the food service. John Kern and Jimmy Calcagno for running the door. Mario Pompei and Chris Siri for running the wine bar. “Lil” Mario Mastrangelo for selling 50/50 tickets, Steve Leonetti, Tommy Alabastro, Bob Bevilacqua, Jim Burch, Lori Colbert, Domenic Giusto and Mike Potestio for setting up. If there’s anyone I’ve missed, please accept my apologies. The Paesano Bocce Club was our charity and they did well. I’ll touch more on that in our bocce section. For those of you that missed it, you missed a great time, but I’m hoping that you will all be able to make it to our next big event, our Concert in the Park on Saturday August 2nd, which once again, will be a whole lot different. Change is good my friends! We’ll see you there! 

La Polenta Dinner / Scholarship Presentation:

On Wednesday June 4th, we will celebrate a great get together with our annual “La Polenta” Dinner / Scholarship Presentation. This dinner will take the place of June’s monthly meeting, so there will be no membership meeting for June. Instead, we will enjoy a wonderful meal of polenta to be shared with not only our fellow members, but our whole Italian community in the Portland and Vancouver area. That’s right, this meal is to be shared with all of our fellow Italians, so please feel free to invite any Italian that you may know to come and break bread with all of us, member or not. This is a chance for all of us to get together and enjoy a huge Italian meal with one of the most iconic Italian staples out there. Polenta was created and has been served in Italy for centuries. The whole idea of this dinner is to get us all together like we used to do at our Nonna’s house for Sunday dinner. Eat, drink and enjoy each other’s company. Just like Nonna’s house however, we’ll all have a job on this joyous occasion. You all need to take a small roll in putting this dinner together. We will need people to come in early starting at 4pm to start our set up. Chairs, tables and dinnerware. We’ll need people to help in the kitchen and to serve the platters to the tables. If you can’t make it early, you can stay later to help clean up. Of course, we will need some hungry people to eat all of this food as well. Marc will need some meat to mix into the sauce, so if you are willing to volunteer to cook a roast of some kind, I’m sure that he’ll appreciate that. Beef, pork or chicken roast and / or veggies would be great. Club Paesano will provide soft drinks and water but we encourage you to bring your favorite bottle of wine to enjoy or share with friends. One, two, three or however many bottles you would like to bring. The more, the merrier! LoL! After our wonderful dinner, we will present and introduce our 2025 Club Paesano Scholarship winners with their $1000 scholarship. This year we will have 4 recipients! They were so talented and the choices were so close that the committee decided to give out 4 this year because of the gracious donation that we received from Weston Kia, thanks to Vinny Curletto. This year our recipients are, Amelia Anderson, Brady Angelo, Stephen Crover and Nicolas Michaud. We’ll meet all of them along with their family’s that night. Congratulations all! If you can volunteer a roast, please reach out to Marc Battilega or myself to let us know. Please show up when you can, and enjoy this wonderful Club Paesano Italian feast! 

Concert in the Park;

On Saturday August 2nd, we will have our 9th annual “Concert in the Park”. Like all our events so far this year, you can expect another change! With this year’s event, we will incorporate an all-day event! We will start the day off with a Farmer’s Market, run by our newest members, Bridget Merrill- Haines & Micheal Merrill which will lead into our Charity, “Calabarzon’s” musical event and fundraiser. After that, we will roll into our Club Paesano’s “Concert in the Park”. What a day we have in store for you! My advice to you all is to just take the day off and make it a “Club Paesano” Day & Night! Come in the morning to enjoy and purchase your fares at the Farmer’s Market followed by a Filipino lunch and concert. Taking a small break, to return and be thoroughly taken care of by our Club Paesano’s Concert in the Park, where you will eat a fantastic dinner then be entertained by the talented “5 Guys Named Moe”, who will have you dancing all night long! What a day! All taking place in the beauty that is Cedarville Park. I couldn’t think of a better place to hold such an event! The space, the trees, the fantastic food and entertainment. Where else can you go to enjoy such a diverse event with market, food and entertainment. What a melting pot of FUN! Our Concert in the Park will start at 4:30pm and will run till 11pm as usual but I am encouraging you all to please enjoy the whole experience that we are putting together for you! A farmer’s market, Mid-day concert and evening concert, with food, and drink to go along with it for the whole day!

With all that is happening and since this will be an all-day affair, I am declaring this to be an “ALL HANDS ON” event. We will need help from everyone, and any little thing that you can do will help. This is our club and our event. Let’s please do everything we can to help, volunteer and make this one of our best events to date! Everything we do is for our members and our club. I will get our “Volunteer Coordinators” very soon. Once they are announced, I would like for all of you that will be in town and attending to reach out to them to pick a position that you would like to work. Please help them, and let them know what rolls you can take to make this event great. If you don’t contact them, then they will be contacting you all. I want to see you all have fun and enjoy yourself. I want to see you with your families and all of your guests that you invite, but we will still need some help in putting this whole day together. Do your part, then enjoy the rest of the day. That’s all we need! More info will be forwarded to you all via email and July’s meeting. Let’s all have a great time, and also showcase our beautiful club and all that Club Paesano / Cedarville Park has to offer to our friends! Go to clubpaesano.org to purchase your tickets now for this day packed with fun! More info to follow.

Paesano Bocce Club:

If you are a bocce member and player, you have been waiting 9 months for this announcement and that is, “THE START OF THE 2025 BOCCE SEASON!” Paesano Bocce members, that time is now here! You have been patient and some of you have even had to play at inferior courts in the off season, but never fear, Paesano Bocce is BACK! Again, we will host 4 nightly leagues from Monday thru Thursday with the most talented players in the Pacific Northwest. Yes, my fellow members, Paesano Bocce is the home of Champions! Please be a part of it if you are not all ready. If you are even curious about the game and maybe playing elsewhere, please let us know. Anyone on our bocce board of directors or a PBC member can bring you out to explain and play the game with you, so you can learn about the sport and what a terrific game it really is! Please do not hesitate to ask. Get a hold of me and I will get you connected to a day on the courts. Our leagues will start on the 1st week of June, so you still have some time to join our league. Even if you come as a single player, without a team, we will set you up with a team. You also have the option of playing part time or as a substitute. This is also another great way to meet people and to learn the sport. This past Sunday, the 18th, we hosted our annual “Meet & Greet”, where new and experienced players came together to teach the sport of bocce and get our newest and interested players involved learning and playing at least 3 games throughout the day. This day was great for our newbies to play with our experienced players to not only learn but play the game correctly. It was a terrific day for all. Thanks to all of you that came out to participate and especially to our crew that consistently shows up, rain or shine with a smile! You know who you are. Props! At our Club Paesano Spring Dance, Paesano bocce was our charity, raising funding for our “RAISE the ROOF” project.  I’m very happy to say that it was a huge success, raising $3800 that will go toward building our roof over our “World Class” bocce courts. We asked all of our teams to donate a basket that would go towards a silent auction. Thank you to all of our teams that did come through with either a donation of items or money. Anything and everything helped to raise those funds. It was a lot of work, but we got it done! I’d like to thank everyone that was involved in getting it going and making it a success. Our Paesano Bocce Board, Mario Pompei, Kelly Barasch, Doug Burchak, Lori De Maestri, Paul Barasch and myself. Special thanks to Lori DeMaestri for gathering donations and putting our donation tables together. Daniela Sardo and Lynn Piraino for gathering and preparing even after their beautiful vacations away. They still came back to support and to help the cause. Bob Bevilaqua for making sure that the tables were watched and taken care of. All of our newbies who stepped up in donating and promoting. What a crew! It was a success from top to bottom and I’m looking forward to a great and competitive season this year! If you don’t play, please come and check out what it’s all about! Let’s keep it rolling, and I’ll see you on the courts!

Club Paesano Dues:

Our CP dues for 2025 are due on June 1st. Please contact our treasurer, John Kern to make arrangements for payments. Also please take care of any past payments of dues or dance tickets that you may still owe from our past events and 2024. Please take care of it sooner than later so John doesn’t have to chase you. John is a very busy man so let’s make it easy for him!

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 .

Thoughts and Prayers:

I hope that most of you were able to make it out to our long-time member, Ron Dove’s Funeral service and celebration of life, afterwards. Ron was truly loved by his family and also his Club Paesano family. Although I didn’t know Ron for a long period of time, I really thought that he was a great man and a great member. He was always smiling and was happy to see everyone. May he celebrate his eternity in the kingdom of heaven with our heavenly Father. I also want to let you know of the passing of Jayne Pompei’s sister Tina. She passed away a month ago. May God please bless our families and all of our Club Paesano members.

LaCarota Question:

Well now, I guess the old saying holds true. “The more things change, the more they stay the same”. The reason I say that is because with all of the newcomers and multiple winners we have had win our coveted bottle of vino, one person always seems to stay the same. The “Wine winning Champion of the World”, and that man is, (Drum roll please!) Mario, “The Wine Winning” POM,,,,,,PEI!! The man is now a legend in my eyes. Just when you think that he is down and out, he arises like the Phoenix, to fly by and pluck that bottle of wine from our unsuspecting players. That is exactly what makes him the wine “GOAT” right now. A resilience and a patient desire to want to win and to stay in the game. Even when old man time comes knocking, Mario just slams the door in his face! Way to go Brother Mario, you will fill that cellar soon enough! Now, with all of that hope being spewed, are you all just going to let the “GOAT” walk all over you? Will you let him build that cellar, or will you start building your own? Let’s see who will take down the Champ in July. With that, I bring you this month’s question. Now that every one of you should have a new Club Paesano hand book, I can start to pull questions from the book again to make it fair. Plus, it will give our new members reason to actually start reading it and getting to know some of our history and by-laws! Here is this month’s question. I want you all to tell me where our very 1st Club Paesano meetings were held before the purchase of Cedarville Park. Be specific. Only one answer! That’s it, very simple. Hopefully one of our newest members will rise up and snatch that sought after bottle of vino out of the “GOAT’S” hooves! You can’t win if you don’t play, so if you’re thirsty, get to it! All correct answers will be entered to win. Please email me at rchabs23@hotmail.com with your answer. Good Luck!

Final Thoughts:

In my final thoughts segment, I would just like to ask all of our members what being a CP member means to each of you. That being said, I would love to hear everything, whether good or bad. I want to know what your expectations are and what you’d like to see changed. If you are happy with the way things are going, please let me know that as well. In a changing world, we need to change too, but some of our Club Paesano ways can also stay the same. Please let me know why you joined and some of the reasons you stay. Please let me know if you would like to see us keep some traditions or get rid of them. This club was formed a long time ago by some great hard-working Italians that immigrated from the old country wanting to keep Italian traditions alive in this new land and to also be able to hand something down to their families for generations to come. They worked hard to keep it running and to make it a home away from home. That is exactly the way that I would love to see it keep going. This is a place for us Italians to enjoy and to call home! Please feel free to answer these questions to me directly or through email, phone or text. I would love to hear back from all of you. We all have a say and together we will keep this beautiful club alive and well!

Salute, Rick.

May 2025                                                       LaCarota

President’s Message:

Ciao a tutti. How is everyone doing? As always, I hope that this month’s newsletter finds you all doing great. Happy, healthy, and safe! What fantastic weather we have been having. I hope that you are all getting a chance to take advantage of it. Just in time for Easter too. It is a beautiful time of the year. Hopefully “Peter Cotton Tail” will come around leaving loads of chocolates for all our little ones. Then us adults can burn calories chasing them around as they get on their “Sugar rushes” and go like the Energizer bunny! Maybe you can get them to take care of some of your projects while they are at it. LoL! I am currently working out of town, so I’ll be using my weekends to start springtime projects and to take care of household necessities. Hopefully by next month it will be time to get a garden in. If the weather keeps cooperating, we should be good to go but you never know. Will it be “In like a lion, out like a lamb” or vice versa. We will soon see!

Spring Dance:

Our Spring Dance will be taking place on Saturday May 17^th. Doors open at 5:30pm. Like our Carnevale Dance in February, we are going to change things up a little more for this Spring Dance, we will be going with a “Country – Western” theme. Our live band is the “Sweetwater Band” and they have a whole list of country favorites, both modern and older that they will be playing along with an array of top 40 and dance music that they will entertain us with. Marc Battilega will also be changing up the menu slightly. Our members have spoken and our board is listening! We are continuing to evolve and change in some ways, and are trying to keep the things that have been successful too. We are trying to give everyone what they would like. I personally like a good Paesano get together! With that being said, let’s do the same in return as members. Let’s get our tickets and attend the party. Invite family, friends and anyone that just loves having a FUN TIME! If you cannot make it for some reason then please gift your tickets to a couple of people that will love it and hopefully become regulars at our events. We all need to chip in and do our best to make all our events successful. Please go to our website at www.clubpaesano.org to purchase your tickets now before your favorite seats get taken. This promises to be a great time! Our Charity for this dance will be the Paesano Bocce Club. As many of you know, the bocce club is currently raising funds to be able to build a roof over our 4 beautiful courts that we currently have. Your support will be appreciated. The Bocce club will have a Raffle/ Auction to raise funds, so if anyone has something that they can donate to it, we would appreciate that. If you have an item to donate, please contact me via phone, text or email and we can arrange to meet, or you can always drop it off at the club. As always, setup will be that Saturday morning at 9am. The more people that come to help, the quicker and easier it will be. If you are available on the Wednesday May 14th at 8am to help Marc make sauce at the club, I’m sure that he will appreciate it. We’d all appreciate it! Remember get your tickets now, and help to make this a SELLOUT!

Club Paesano Scholarship:

The deadline to get applications submitted for our scholarship is Wednesday April 30^th. This is a great opportunity for any senior that you may know to take advantage of. Every little bit helps when you are going into college, trade school or university. Our club will be giving away 3 scholarships of $1000 each to our deserving applicants. So far we only have a handful of students that have submitted their apps, so if you do know someone that would qualify, please have them go to our website at www.clubpaesano.org They can download the forms and get them back to us before the deadline. Our Scholarship committee will go over each one and pick out the best 3 applicants out of the bunch. I’m sure that it will be a tough decision again like last years. Special thanks to our committee. Dino Gavazza, Phil Potestio, Vince and Kristy Curletto, Anna and Reza Nassib, Donna Sinsiri- Howard, and myself, Rick Cervi.

Paesano Bocce Club;

Well, it is getting to be that time of the year. Our 2025 Bocce league season is just around the corner. Can you smell it? I personally cannot wait! I’ve been playing all winter, and I still can’t wait. The anticipation of another fantastic season awaits all of us players. If you are not a bocce member yet, what are you waiting for? It’s one of the best sports you’ll ever play. From a distance, it looks like an easy game, but if you get on a court, you’ll find out differently. I’m not trying to scare anyone, I’m just saying that it’s a little more involved and it takes a little more skill than it seems, however, it’s a game that anyone can play. Young, old, athletic, or not, man, women or child, there’s a spot for anyone and with 4 league nights that will cover every skill level, there is really no excuse not to join us. It’s a night to get out of the house for a few hours and to have some fun with a great group of people. If you are not a member yet and need to get out there to roll a few balls to see if you will like it, please come to our Meet and Greet on Sunday May 18^th at 8am. This will give you the opportunity to learn the game and get to play with players of all skill sets. A great way to feel it out and to see if the sport is for you. We would love to have you there. If you need any other information or just want to check out anything Paesano Bocce, please visit our website at www.paesanobocceclub.com or feel free to speak to any of our board of directors or our current members. As you all know Paesano Bocce will be the charity partner for our Spring Dance. As a member of the bocce club, it would be great if you and your team could attend the dance to show support but also put a basket or some kind of donation package together for us to be able to raffle or auction off. It could be anything and of any value. Our hope is to raise more funds to start building our roof to cover our World Class courts! We are officially a 501-C3 now, so any type of donation can be written off on your taxes. Again, anything will help, and I hope to see all of our bocce members at our Spring dance. Remember to go to our website at www.clubpaesano.org to purchase your tickets today.

If you have never played and want to try it out before embarrassing yourself, Mario will be glad to show you how it’s played. Email Mario at paesanobocceclub@gamil.com.

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 .

Club Paesano Dues:

Our Club Paesano membership dues were due in June. If you haven’t paid John Kern as of yet, please make plans on paying him soon. You can mail him a check, or pay him at our next meeting. John will accept Credit cards, cash or checks. John’s a busy man, so please don’t make him chase you. If you need to pay your dues or any other payments, please take care of it. Thank you. 

Thoughts and Prayers;

It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of another great man, friend, and member of Club Paesano, Ron Dove. There will be a funeral service at St John the Baptist Church, Friday May 16^th. Rosary at 12:30 PM and Funeral Mass at 1:00 PM followed by a reception at the Church Hall. 10956 SE 25th Ave, Milwaukie, OR 97222. R,I.P. Ron!

I found out last month, that if we have a member that passes away, we can request that the club make a donation to that member’s favorite charity. That would include a member’s spouse as well. Please contact John Kern or myself for more details or to make a donation. Let us send out huge thoughts and prayers to all of our members and their families both past and present!! Especially at this Easter season!

LaCarota Question;

Well now, look who’s powering through the ranks and becoming a powerhouse in the world of Club Paesano Wine Winning! Chris “Superfly” Siri, has solidified his place in our circle of winners. Look out Mario “POM,,,,PEI”. Just when you thought that you were safe to answer another question…. Look out, brother Mario, Chris is on the prowl with the Champ in his sight! Just goes to prove that you can’t win if you don’t play. Is there anyone of you that would like to knock these guys off their pedestals? If there is, then you’ll take a shot at this month’s question. Seeing that Easter is a few days away, my question will be about our holiday. Here it is. “What is your (or families) best Easter tradition?” I know that depending on what region of Italy your family is from, it can vary, but never the less, I want to hear about it. There is no wrong answer. I’ve made it pretty simple. Mario and Chris need some competition! Jim Burch, are you still out there? Dino Gavazza, our very 1^st wine winner. Johnny Kern, where are you all? Is there a newbie that would like to make a name for themselves? Anyone of you can win our coveted bottle of vino, but you have to answer! All answers will be entered into the drawing at our next meeting.

Member Recognition;

I’d like to give a special shout out and say congratulations to our very own Greg DeMaestri. Greg just opened his new catering business called “Banchetto” which in Italian means “a Celebratory meal”.  Greg is now up and running so if you are in need of a fantastic caterer for your next event, please give Greg a try. If you’ve been to some of our club events where Greg has prepared our meals, then you know what he brings to the table and the wonderful meal that you will receive. Please go to his website at “Banchetto.biz” and check it out. It’s always nice for members to support other members! Good luck in your new in devour Greg!

Final Thoughts;

I’ve been working out of town for the last month, so I don’t have a lot of my notes and my personal computer with me, to look at past newsletters and to add new things, but I know that I’m running out of time to make sure that our newsletter gets out, so if I’ve missed anything this month, please forgive me and I will get it all in for the next newsletter. I just want to give a shout out to all of our members and their families on this Holy week and this coming Easter Sunday. I will be glad to be at home to celebrate with my family and close friends. Being on the road really makes you think about how much you miss your home and family. I have been coming home on the weekends but it’s not the same as being there all the time. Luckily, it’s not a permanent thing and hopefully life will be back to normal soon. Not only do I miss my family, but I also miss being with my Paesano family, and our club activities. A break is good, but you also get used to traditional things as well and any disruption puts things out of kilter. Enjoy this Easter holiday with all of your loved ones. Have a great time together, but let’s never forget the reason we celebrate. He has risen, he has risen! Halleluiah! He died for our sins. Let us do right by our lord and savior! God Bless you and your families. Buona Pasqua to you and yours!

Ti Salute,

Rick