The Grapevine: Blast from the Italian Heritage Festival Past with a Rewind to Recall I Campagnoli Dancers
By Rosalyn Queen on August 06, 2026 from The Grapevine
As Labor Day Weekend draws near, we all seem to get a little anxious about getting ready for the West Virginia Italian Heritage Festival. The streets of Clarksburg will be filled with food, music, and dancing.
In this week’s blog, a “Blast from the Past” from the Festival.
About the second festival we were contacted by the director of the I Campagnoli Dancers from Pittsburgh advising us that she had heard about our festival and had a group of folk dancers that would like to come down here and perform for our festival. We negotiated a price and
they were here for that Festival.
they were here for that Festival.
They performed popular folk dances from the region of Calabria. They always wore costumes of the Calabrian region. There were several couples who participated as well as several younger individuals.
The wonderful part was seeing them come down Pike Street leading our parade. There were several who played instruments and all of them sang folk songs. After they opened Saturday morning they performed several times on the main stage. Their program consisted of songs and dances, and the director explained the meaning of the different steps to the dances. They came back for several years until their director became ill and they could no longer come. They performed at several other festivals but assured us that ours was the best.
We have never had another dance group with as many members come to our Festival. But we still had dance groups and dancing in the street.
The Festival continues and we continue with our memories as we all make new ones.
Now is the time to make plans to attend the WVIHF Labor Day Weekend. There are so many activities to participate in throughout the weekend. Thank you Board of Directors and volunteers.
See you soon at the festival and until next week, “Now You Have Heard It Through The Grapevine.”
Editor's Note:Pictured are members of the Pittsburgh-based I Campagnoli Folk Dancers.
.jpg)
