At Coletti-Magni Park, Christmas lights illuminate a wooden Santa Claus display, a mailbox for sending letters to the North Pole, and laughing children playing along to the echoes of Christmas songs in the background.
St. Mary of Carmen Society’s Christmas tree fundraiser sits on the corner of Watertown Street, catching the attention of passersby.
Chuck Proia, festival chairman for the St. Mary of Carmen Society, explained that his dedication to the society and the Christmas tree fundraiser revolves around the event’s connection to his childhood.
“The biggest thing about it is it brings [us] back [to] when we were kids, watching the families come here with their kids and picking out a tree, and the happiness that you see there,” Proia said. “We all come from the same neighborhood. We’re all involved.”
The St. Mary of Carmen Society is widely recognized for its annual, well-attended Italian American festival at Pellegrini Park in Newton, but the society also plays an active role in their community year-round.
During Christmastime, members recreate the Christmas magic they experienced as children with an annual Christmas tree fundraiser to support the Nonantum Children’s Christmas Party Association’s (NCCPA) annual park lighting and Christmas parade.
The St. Mary of Carmen Society, founded in 1935, began as a mutual aid society for Italian men in Newton, according to Proia.
“The person who came into the society, if anything happened to them, the society would take care of them,” Proia said. “Most of our grandfathers and fathers belonged to it.”
The society was originally a community for Italian Americans since American social clubs in the early 1900s were not particularly welcoming to Italians. Today, the society is now a nonprofit organization with a mission of helping out families and other organizations in their community.
“It’s evolved into more of a charitable [organization],” Proia said. “In the last 10 years, we’ve given over $100,000, so that’s what now all of our emphasis is for. Obviously, it was based upon the religious aspect, based upon helping the families … When somebody needs something, we’re usually there.”
The money raised from the Christmas tree fundraiser will go into the society’s general fund for future events and donations. The fundraiser started 10 years ago and has occurred every year since. This year, the fundraiser began on Nov. 29 and will continue until they run out of the 350 trees they ordered, according to Proia.
The society keeps its prices at a fixed rate of $75 per tree. They’re not in it for the money, according to Proia.
“I tell everybody, it’s a fundraiser,” Proia said. “We sell it at $75, we don’t care what it looks like. As far as height, size—could be 8-foot tall, 9-foot tall. We’re not a business.”
Mike Mazzola, chairman of the Christmas tree fundraiser for the St. Mary of Carmen Society said that the group has given him an opportunity to bond with his family.
“I grew up on this street,” Mazzola said. “I’ve been doing this all my life. My two daughters just joined this year. … They found time to help Daddy out.”
Anthony Pellegrini, chairman of the St. Mary of Carmen Christmas party association, said that family connections are what drew him into the park lighting. He said the light show in Coletti-Magni was his father’s brainchild.
“We’ve been doing this type of lighting for 30 years,” Pellegrini said. “Before that, the lights were out in the street like you see in the movie [It’s a] Wonderful Life. In the ’50s my dad asked the police lieutenant, since the police department took care of the lights, if we could put them in this park for the veterans.”
Pellegrini said he’s proud of the legacy of his father, his namesake—Anthony “Fat” Pellegrini Sr.—and of his grandfather who moved to Nonantum in 1906.
“He was an icon in this area,” Pelligrini said. “Me, I’m just a worker bee, even though I’m the junior.”
For Pellegrini, it’s important to continue the traditions his family and neighborhood started.
“Before my father passed he said to me, ‘You give up something around here you’ll never get it back,’ so we try not to give up any of our traditions,” Pellegrini said. “That goes for almost everything, really, especially in a town like this.” ν
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