A week of food, fun on tap in Steubenville

STEUBENVILLE -- The city has some exciting events planned this week.

The city once again will host the Hometown Celebration, Dean Martin Festival and the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Food Festival.

The food festival begins on Tuesday and runs through Friday at the church on South Fourth Street. The church will be serving up its classic Greek food and entertainment every day from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m.

The food at this year's festival will include Grecian-style roasted chicken with rice pilaf and green beans; boneless leg of lamb with rice pilaf and green beans; plaki or baked fish; lamb stew; loukaniko or sausage; gyro sandwiches; pastitsio, baked layers of phyllo dough filled with spinach, an egg mixture, feta, cottage and grated cheese; lemon-scented grape leaves stuffed with a seasoned mixture of rice, meat and herbs; and Greek salad.

The desserts menu will feature almond cookies, hot loukoumathes, galatobouriko, apidakia, kourambiedes, rice pudding, baklava cheesecake and chocolate baklava.

The food festival is adding a baklava sundae booth next to the gyro booth outside.

And this year's entertainment at the festival will be provided by the Greek Company Orchestra. The musicians will be playing Hellenic style music for visitors, according to festival organizers.

The festival's main sponsor is Eastern Gateway Community College, and the charity chosen by the festival committee to receive a $1,000 donation will be Jefferson County Project Lifesaver, which provides "law enforcement, fire and rescue personnel and caregivers with a program designed to protect, and when necessary, quickly locate individuals with cognitive disorders who are prone to the life threatening behavior of wandering."

A check will be presented during the ribbon-cutting ceremony set for 11 a.m. on Tuesday to kick off the festival.

The city also will host the Hometown Celebration and Dean Martin Festival Thursday through Saturday.

The Spot Bar will be the site of the Dean Martin Festival, and festivities get under way Thursday night with a singing contest.

"It's probably the best night," Spot Bar owner Joe DiAlbert said. "It's the most fun. Everyone thinks they can sing like Dean Martin. They get up there and make weirdos out of themselves."

The winner of the contest will get to sing at the bar on Saturday, he noted.

Friday night, the bar will host singers Bob Morelli, Dave Salera and Chris Denem. Morelli is a Dean Martin impersonator, Salera impersonates Frank Sintara, and Denem impersonates Neil Diamond. The music, which has a $10 cover charge, starts at 7 p.m.

The Frank Gallo Band will play at 1 p.m. Saturday at the bar. This year the band will have a special guest, 8-year-old Romina Perri, who sings Dean Martin songs in his native Italian. There will also be a Rat Pack show at the bar on Saturday night beginning at 7 p.m., with a $10 cover charge.

North Fourth Street will be the site for the Hometown Celebration.

The events kick off Saturday morning with the Dino Dash, a 5K run to support the restoration of the Grand Theater on South Fourth Street. For those looking for a slower pace, there will be a one-mile walk, the Martin Meander. Registration for both events begins at 7 a.m. at the City Building, with the races starting at 9 a.m.

Leonardo's Coffehouse will be showing Dean Martin movie clips all day starting at 8 a.m., and Drosselmeyer's Nutcracker Shoppe and Steubenville Popcorn Co. will be opening at 8 a.m. to welcome early morning visitors that day.

At 11 a.m. the street vendors, live music and the Dean Martin Traveling Museum open along Fourth Street. The traveling museum, new this year, will be located in the lobby of the former Chase Bank building and feature hundreds of items connected to Steubenville's favored son and his career.

At 1 p.m. the area's smallest residents will get in on the action with the opening of the petting zoo, face painting, mini train rides and KidsZone. Kurt James Fun 'n' Games and Amazing Nick's Balloons also will be on hand.

This year's Hometown Celebration also will feature tours of some of Steubenville's churches and other places of interest.

"We are pleased to have several church tours on the schedule this year: St. Paul's Episcopal Church, First Christian Church and Zion United Church of Christ. These historic buildings have stunning architecture and stained-glass windows. There will be church members available to give the background stories. The trolley will stop at the churches as well as the Jefferson County Historical Museum with its Dean Martin Room, and the Grand Theater where there will be an open house and entertainment from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.," said Judy Bratten, director of Historic Fort Steuben and the Steubenville Visitors Center.

"Once again, Franciscan University will be contributing $500 to each of the two city high schools for their performing arts program as part of the Hometown Celebration," Bratten added.

The celebration wraps up with a street dance and swing contest on North Fourth Street from 7 p.m. until 11 p.m. In addition, there will be a prize for best period costume.

The sponsors for this year's celebration include Franciscan University of Steubenville; Mark West Energy Partners; Steel Valley Regional Transit; Tri-State Financial Services; Trinity Health System; WTOV-TV; Weirton Medical Center; Eastern Gateway Community College; Naples Spaghetti House; the Harmonium Project; Nelson's of Steubenville; Barium Chemicals; Cardinal Operating Co.; Diocese of Steubenville; Dunlope-Shorac Funeral Home; Hauser's Furniture Co.; Gables Care Center; Upper Ohio Valley Building & Trades; Valley Converting; Wal-Mart Distribution Center; Ace Optical; Downtown Bakery; Gus's Goodies; Steubenville Lions Club; Bug Busters Pest Control; First Choice America Federal Credit Union; Holy Trinity Greek Church; and Village Sleep Center.