A little rain can't dampen Columbus Day parade
No one was going to rain on Betty Paglia's parade Sunday afternoon when she began dancing in the streets.
No one was going to rain on Betty Paglia's parade Sunday afternoon when she began dancing in the streets.
The South Philadelphia woman has attended the Columbus Day parade for 40 years and appeared a natural when Joe "Asti" Pomante, 51, captain of the Durning String Band from Barrington, took her by the hand for a few twirls along South Broad Street.
Paglia, 66, and neighbor Millie Aros, 68, live near the parade route, which ran from Morris Street to Oregon Avenue and ended with a festival at Marconi Plaza. The two women were looking forward to the authentic Italian food after the parade.
Paglia and Aros huddled under umbrellas as light rain fell, keeping the sidewalks sparsely dotted with spectators as Mummers and marching bands strutted and blared music along Broad Street.
"Usually we have a big crowd," Paglia said. "But it's raining, and you can't take the little ones out."
Bob Cairo, 66, and his wife, Rose, 65, live on South 22d Street in Girard Estates. They watched from a covered porch near Ritner Street.
"Yo, Frankie," Cairo hollered as he gave a thumbs-up to the parade's grand marshal, Frankie Valli. The romance singer of the 1960s rolled by in a maroon Chrysler 200 convertible, next to his friend, radio personality Jerry Blavat.
Blavat, the Geator with the Heater, from South Philadelphia, said he can't get decent cannoli outside the city. Valli said, "Jerry made me an offer I could not refuse," when he decided to join Philly's parade.
The two dropped the top of the roadster and put up black umbrellas as they cruised slowly and waved at fans.
"Why do you think we're here?" Cairo said of Valli. "We're not here to see Mayor Nutter."
For Rose Cairo and her sister Betty Mastriando, 68, it was a tradition they did not want to miss. Born in Calabria, Italy, a farming area south of Naples, the women are two of 10 siblings.
They came to the United States through Ellis Island in 1954, its last year of operation, and moved to South Philadelphia.
"My mother swore she was going to get up to America because life was so hard there," Cairo said. "They had to grow all their food, even the wheat to make the bread."
The rain did not dampen their spirits on Sunday. Had the weather been better, the grandchildren would have been there this year, just like last year, they said.
