Griffs Jobs

Festival Producer
JBGmg proposed So Cal Little Italy
Development Project still in the works
In 1984 while on a family vacation in Wisconsin where my 2nd Wife’s
Mother was from I attended the Festa Italiana with my wife and young
son. The festival brought back some great memories for me. My Mom
was ½ Italian and her mother my grandmother had immigrated to Los
Angeles in 1921 from the village of Piana Degli Albansese located in
the hills high above the seaside town of Palermo, Sicily. After both my
Grandmother and Mom had passed, my Grandmother in 1977 and my
Mom in 1985, I felt a huge loss in my Italian roots. For some reason and
I’m sure it was from heaven above I decided I would produce the So Cal
Italian Festival to keep the taste of Italy alive. Once the idea was planted
I went to work on making the festival a reality. During this time I was
employed by the Long Beach Unified School District as a District Intern
Special Ed Teacher so my evenings and weekends were pretty much free
to work on the festival. On August 2nd 2003 we pulled off the festival
and received a nice proclamation from the Vice Mayor of Long Beach.
The festival was a great experience and the presence of my Mom and
my Grandmother were with me the entire time not only in planning the
festival but on the day of the festival. We had over 500 in attendance for
the day and although we were in the red $5000 after calculating all the
income and expenses I can say it was one of the best investments I ever
made. Having the support of the volunteers, community, vendors and
my wife made it one of the highlights of my less than spectacular career.
What I learned was having a one-day event is a lot of work. I thought
about opening an Italian Restaurant a few times to keep my passion
for taste of Italy alive but that dream has not become a reality yet. Stay
tuned for griffino’s Italian Restaurant.
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