by Carlos Avila

The Mercer County Italian-American Festival last month was once again a huge success, but The Trentonian dug deeper into the history of the festival to discover the man behind the show. The man behind the idea of organizing a festival that brings thousands of people from all over to Mercer Park to celebrate the culture of the Italian community was John Scarpati.

Scarpati, 75, is a first-generation immigrant, meaning that he is first in his family to have been born in the U.S. Scarpati's father immigrated to New York from Naples, Italy. His father Carmen Scarpati, a house-painter, arrived at Ellis Island in 1912 and then his mother Anna arrived in 1920. Scarpati's father laid stones on New York City streets earning $2 per hour.

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Source: http://www.trentonian.com/