L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2018 www.italoamericano.org 24 L'Italo-Americano A quatic stunts to fea- ture celebration of Columbus Day. Life- saving acts, water polo an d cir cu s clowns to enliven event at North Beach Sounds like fun! If you are wondering why you didn't see these events at this month's Ital- ian Heritage Day celebration it would be because they actually happened in 1913 and are described in the October 1913 San Francisco Call newspaper! And the point is San Francisco's Italian community has been cele- brating their heritage since the City' s firs t Columbus D ay Parade in 1869. In 1869 community leader Nicola Larco established San Francisco's First Columbus Day Celebration, marking the first time in the city that Italian Americans gathered to hold a parade to honor their ow n accomplishments, as well as to remember the first European to cross the Atlantic Ocean, their countryman Christopher Colum- bus. The inaugural parade took place in San Francisco's down- town, featuring the bands and marching units of Italian frater- nal organizations, including the Garibaldi Guards, Swiss Guards and Lafayette G uards . F our floats are showcased: the first hosting the statue of Christopher Columbus, the second featuring two girls representing Spain and America, the third depicting the "S an ta M aria" w ith a s ailor dressed as Christopher Colum- bus; and the fourth honoring Ital- ian gardeners and their agricul- tural achievements. At the turn of the 20th centu- ry, photographer J.B. Monaco w as cons idered the D ean of N orth Beach photo graphers . D ocu menting life in N orth Beach, his historic photographs include one of th e earlies t CATHERINE ACCARDI Telegraph Hill. The massive sculpture piece was the work of Italy's Vittorio di Colbertaldo. Columbus Day weekend will be highlighted here tomorrow with a parade..." Today's Italian Heritage Day website (https://sfitalianher- itage.org) defines the Columbus Day Committee's mission:"We are proud members of the Italian American community in the San Francisco Bay Area, and togeth- er we celebrate and honor the values, culture, and traditions we have been fortunate to have inherited from the Italian Ameri- can community. We recognize those contributions of the Italian American people and the impact on the community and people around us. Our board is a group of over 30 volunteers who com- mit their time and resources to carrying on the traditions of the parade every year." In Speroni's essay, he men- tions the 1944 pageant by say- ing, " Columbus arrived in Was hington S quare in an amphibian jeep and set foot on the 'w ilds ' of the peaceful square." Although the October 2018 celebration did not include an amphibian jeep in Washing- ton Square, Italian Consul Gen- eral Lorenzo Ortona did remark, "Perfect weather, great atmos- phere and so much enthusiasm! Thanks to the Community for making this day so special. Al prossimo anno!" Columbus Day parades as it made its way down Columbus Avenue just below Broadway, with the Queen enjoying her ride on the main float. In 1915, the San Francisco Columbus Day Committee was organized by the S ales ian F athers of S aints P eter and P aul's Church in N orth Beach. The celebration included a formal Grand Ball and a cere- mony where a young man and woman were selected by the community to be crowned as the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella, and to preside over the festivities. During the 1920s, the parade grew to include marching units, bands, decorated automobiles and floats. The celebration lasted over three hours with thousands attending the festivities. A new parade route started at San Fran- cisco's Civic Center, traveled down Market Street through the Financial District, Chinatown and up Columbus Avenue to fin- ish in front of Saints Peter and Paul's Church in North Beach. In the 1930s, the sponsorship of the parade shifted from Saints Peter and Paul's Church to the Federation of Italian Societies, an organization representing civic, social and fraternal Italian American organizations. In 1942, the celebration was incorporated into a non-profit corporation known as Columbus Day Celebration, Inc. A board of directors, consisting of past presidents, conducts all affairs and elects all of the contributing officers. It w as in 1994 that the Columbus Day Parade evolved into the Italian Heritage Parade in an effort to celebrate the accomplishments and culture of all Italians and Italian Ameri- cans. Charles Speroni's 1948 essay The Development of the Colum- bus Day Pageant of San Francis- co offers valuable insight and historical perspective on what has become an enduring legacy of the City's Italian community. In his essay Speroni says, "The large Italian colony of the city of S an F rancis co is des ervedly proud of having originated one of the most colorful pageants in California. One thing that strikes immediately is the grand scale of San Francisco's very first cel- ebration of Columbus Day, and even more noteworthy was the presence of a float of the Santa Maria, drawn by horses through the streets of the city." Clearly many San Francisco citizens took Columbus Day and the weeks prior seriously, so seriously that news copy from O ctob er 12, 1957 reads : "Singers, sailors from American and Italian navies, and specta- tors stand in reverent silence as 12-foot statue of Christopher Columbus is unveiled today on 1957 dedication of the Columbus statute at the base of Coit Tower (Photograph courtesy of the San Francisco History Room, San Francisco Public Library) SAN FRANCISCO ITALIAN COMMUNITY San Francisco's Italian Heritage Parade: a historical perspective Columbus Day parade in the 1950s (Photograph courtesy of ItalianHeritageDay.org)

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