"A Table In The Back"

One little slice of the festival pie this year is The 2^nd Annual John Marzano Halfball Tournament presented by Conestoga Bank. Johnny Marz, as the community lovingly calls him, suddenly passed away of a heart attack last year. This event was born to honor his memory and raise some dollars for the Marzano Family Education Fund.

There is a committee of South Philadelphians, including John’s wife Terri, who are working on this with us. We had our first meeting a few weeks ago at a bar called Stokes at 16th and Oregon. I had never met any of the committee members before and arrived a few minutes prior to my bosses. I walked in and immediately felt a little out of place; everyone was drinking laughing and acting like family. Once they arrived, I was introduced and the "out of place" feeling quickly went away. I think they might have been the friendliest people I have ever met. We decided standing at the bar wasn’t going work, so the owner set up a table in the back.

As everyone sat, the conversation started and it was difficult to stay on task. I felt a little like I was in a movie. The South Philly accents were spectacular, and everyone was so animated -- there was also the fact that there were no less than 4 conversations going on at the same time, the entire time. It was hard to keep up, but about 1/2 way through I finally got the hang of it.

Sitting through this meeting gave me a real clarity about the tournament. There was affection, love, and emotion when anyone talked about John, which for an outsider put everything into perspective. Knowing how much everyone cared made me want to put on a great, feel good event that gets the community involved and having fun to honor John’s memory.

By the time we left, I received hugs and kisses on the cheek. It was an experience I don’t think I will ever forget

Allow Me To Introduce Myself...

Welcome to my spot in the internet world. My name is Molly Pocket and I've decided to keep you all informed on the goings on of this years festivities. May 16th is quickly approaching and personally I can't wait. There are few things I get super stoked for, but enjoying a nice spring day with some great food and some live entertainment is definitely one of them, hopefully you are as enthused as me.

There are a few things I've been doing to get as connected as possible. Check out Facebook, our Flickr group, and Twitter ( this one is a little new to me, but I'm workin on it.) The idea for Twitter is to keep you in the loop AT the festival, I'll probably set up camp somewhere to "tweet" and let you know whats what and whose where.

I'd love to hear some suggestions, feedback, comments, or even just some stories about your Philadelphia/Italian Market adventures. I'll be letting you know of some contests to get people involved, so stay tuned.