Lorain International Festival hosts annual breakfast

VERMILION — The Lorain International Festival hosted its 57th annual breakfast Wednesday morning, honoring the city's Italian community and highlighting the Lorain Education Association as its spotlight organization. The longstanding tradition, held at German's Villa in Vermilion, had about 300 attendees fill the ballroom in a celebration of Lorain's cultural heritage as part of the events leading up to this weekend's International Festival at Black River Landing. Lorain International Association President Chris Rewak remarked on Lorain's multicultural legacy celebrated by the annual festival. "What makes Lorain special? You hear words like welcoming, multicultural, industrial city," he said. "It's attracted people from all over the world for generations — over 55 cultures make this city their home, and it's still welcoming. We welcomed refugees from Hurricane Maria, we welcomed Ukrainian refugees over the last couple years in the city, and we will continue to do that." He harkened to Massachusetts Bay Colony Gov. John Winthrop's idealized vision of America as a city on a hill, an oft-referenced ideal by President Ronald Reagan meant to highlight the United States as an example to other nations. Rewak quoted Reagan, "'In my mind, it was a tall, proud city built on rock stronger than oceans … a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity and if there had to be walls, those walls had doors and those doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get there.'" Rewak said that is how he feels about Lorain: A multicultural melting pot open to industry and creativity he hoped to see continue for generations to come. Mayor Jack Bradley shared Rewak's sentiments on the diversity represented by Wednesday's breakfast and other events throughout the week like the annual Princess Pageant this evening. "It just demonstrates the diverse and united community we have in Lorain when it comes to being the International City," Bradley said. "In this day and age where people are talking about immigration and trying to kick people out of the country, and yet we have a city that has embraced our international heritage and all those immigrants that came to this country looking for a better life." The morning's guest speaker was the son of some of those immigrants. Joseph Delmonico's father, Frank, was born in Italy and came to Lorain at 15 years old. He met and married Delmonico's mother, Rose, a Chicago South Sider from an Italian family. The couple had two sets of twins, Joseph and his brother Pete, and Elizabeth and Frank. The family grew up on West 23rd Street and Joseph Delmonico graduated from Admiral King High School in 1967. Delmonico was drafted into the Army in 1969 and served two years. Once home, Delmonico joined the Italian American Veterans Post 1 and has remained a member of the post since then, including serving as national president of the Italian American Veterans associations in the early 2000s. This year's breakfast's longtime sponsors included Kiedrowski's Bakery and American Legion Post 30. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.