Columbus Day Celebration

Columbus Day has to be one of the lowliest of Holidays.  To my knowledge it does not even earn the day off of school or work for most people, as it did when I was young.  In my lifetime the popular opinion on Christopher Columbus has deteriorated from once revered discoverer of the New World to misrepresented destroyer of a Native people.  Regardless of your views on Columbus I am sure that you would agree his day of Commemoration is not met with much fan fare.  However, for me this changed this past Sunday at the best (and probably only) Columbus Day Bazaar that I have ever attended.

Saints Peter and Paul Church in North Beach held its 92nd Annual Columbus Day Bazaar on Saturday and Sunday preceded by a small parade.  Rachel and I attended the event on Sunday.  The parade was underwhelming but the bazaar was great!  The whole event took place in the parking lot and basement of the church, and is basically a fundraiser for the church's school.  The parking lot contained your typical fare food, games for the kids, and the inventive salami toss game.  It was nice but the real action was in the church basement.  We walked down the stairs and into what could best be described as an amateur casino with Italian pride.  It was crazy.  There was a full bar, several roulette style games, bingo, and black jack.  I thought there must be a catch with the blackjack, but it was simply a dollar a hand with pushes going to the house (or the kids as the dealer told us).

All in all, it was a lot of fun.  Rachel kicked back some beers and won a few bones on blackjack.  I wandered around and took pictures of all the fun and fascinating people.  Below are some of the shots that I thought captured the feel of the event.  Grazie e arrivederci al prossimo tempo!

Sanitation workers hustling.

Cowboys assaulting street car.

Salami Toss.  You pay $5 for 3 balls and if you hit a hanging salami you win it.

Rachel gets the party started.

This guy was very surprised.

Getting them gambling at a young age. His buddy does not think its a good bet.

I always thought nuns were stern but this former student was happy to see this Sister.

For some reason the unabashedly Italian celebration had a Chinese food booth.

Rachel taking money out of the hands of children. Yeah baby!

Ferrari show in front of church.

Renaissance actor breaks charachter to break out the plastic.

Proud pizza artist practicing his craft.

One of these ladies is very Italian... the other is just wearing the t-shirt.

This website is not above pointing out that this chick likes a big salami.