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|Photo by Derek Redd| Rita Carapellotti, the 2024 Italian-American of the Year, talks to the audience Wednesday at the kickoff dinner for the Upper Ohio Valley Italian Heritage Festival.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE – A love of heritage and love of community have motivated Rita Carapellotti in a lifetime of service. That service was honored Wednesday night in the kickoff to the Upper Ohio Valley Italian Heritage Festival.

Carapellotti was feted at Undo’s West as the festival’s 2024 Italian-American of the Year. She and her family have developed Franciscan Square into a hub of activity in Steubenville and also own the Harp and Habit Irish pub.

The root of that community service has come through family, she said Wednesday night. Her father Francesco left Sicily for America with just one small suitcase. Her mother Assunta came to America to join her older brothers who had been left in America at ages 11 and 13 after their mother had passed.

“Through the years, they instilled in me a love of all things Italian, but an appreciation for their opportunities in America,” she said.

Along with her late husband, local ÀÏ˾»úÖ±²¥ Michael, Carapellotti took care to support the Ohio Valley. Following Michael Carapellotti’s death in 2014, she and her family established the Michael B. Carapellotti Charitable Foundation, which supports families of transplant recipients in Pittsburgh. She also sponsors an annual pilgrimage to the Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation, and sits on the Foundation Board of Trinity Health System.

Yet, according to festival President Michele Fabbro, Carapellotti has never trumpeted those accomplishments. It’s not her style, nor is it her preference.

“What sets her apart is her humility about it,” Fabbro said of Carapellotti. “A lot of people do a lot of things for people and they’re always looking for recognition. That’s not so with Rita.

“When I called her to let her know she had been chosen, she said, ‘Oh no, I can’t do that. I want to be under the radar,” Fabbro continued. “And I said, ‘Well, too bad, because you’re it.'”

While she may not seek the spotlight, Carapellotti cherishes the honor she has earned as Italian-American of the Year because of her love for her Italian heritage. She has spent adulthood promoting and passing down Italian traditions to younger generations.

Among those traditions is the Feast of the Seven Fishes, a Christmas Eve celebration that features a seafood smorgasbord. At the Carapellotti household, it’s not just Italian-Americans who get to enjoy the event.

“One of those Christmases was an example of the beauty of living in the melting pot of America,” she said. “That particular Christmas, we had with us a bishop, a Muslim family, a Hindu family, a Jewish family and, of course, all of us Italians and others as we gathered to celebrate Christmas Eve and the blessings of all walks of life.”

Carapellotti said she’ll continue promoting the traditions and principles of her Italian heritage to younger generations as a way to honor her parents and ancestors.

“I believe each generation is blessed and given more opportunities than the previous to grow and learn,” she said, “because they had that possibility when their grandparents or their parents came from Italy and decided to leave their country, their home and their family, and took a leap of faith to work hard, in hopes of giving their lives a better chance and, in turn the lives of many generations to come.”

The 2024 Upper Ohio Valley Italian Heritage Festival begins at noon Friday at Wheeling’s Heritage Port with a ribbon cutting and will feature Italian food and music throughout the weekend. Festival Chairman Tony Filberto said that the excitement for the festival, now in its 41st year, has never waned. Preparing for it is like getting ready for a giant family reunion.

That family atmosphere turns up a notch this year with Sunday Mass. Following that service, Undo’s Restaurant will provide a traditional Italian family dinner with spaghetti, meatballs, antipasta, garlic bread and other Italian favorites.

“In my family, every Sunday at 1 o’clock, we all ate together,” he said. “Nobody invited anybody, but you had better be there. That was the important thing. So we wanted to have that approach (this year). Come down and enjoy each other, enjoy our families. Let’s all be part of one family on Sunday and enjoy that traditional Sunday dinner.”

The festival runs Friday through Sunday.