Tontitown tradition: Homemade spaghetti returns to Grape Festival

Ginger Daily (left) and Jettie Franco put pasta sheets through a roller Monday, July 19, 2021, at the St. Joseph's Parish Hall in Tontitown. More than 3,000 pounds of pasta noodles are being prepared for the 122nd Tontitown Grape Festival which runs Tuesday, August 3 through Saturday, August 7. The homemade spaghetti will be served August 5 through 7. Check out nwaonline.com/210801Daily/ and nwadg.com/photos for a photo gallery.(NWA Democrat-Gazette/David Gottschalk)
Ginger Daily (left) and Jettie Franco put pasta sheets through a roller Monday, July 19, 2021, at the St. Joseph's Parish Hall in Tontitown. More than 3,000 pounds of pasta noodles are being prepared for the 122nd Tontitown Grape Festival which runs Tuesday, August 3 through Saturday, August 7. The homemade spaghetti will be served August 5 through 7. Check out nwaonline.com/210801Daily/ and nwadg.com/photos for a photo gallery.(NWA Democrat-Gazette/David Gottschalk)

Jettie Franco recently spent hours running dough through a roller to make spaghetti for her town's annual grape festival. It's a tradition she has been participating in for about 60 years and that has been in the Franco family for generations.

Franco worked alongside family members and other prominent Tontitown families to prepare the dinners for the 122nd Tontitown Grape Festival this week. The spaghetti dinners, which cost $12 for adults and $6 for children 10 and younger, are being served today through Saturday from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m.

The acclaimed dinners have been part of the Tontitown Grape Festival every year since 1932, according to a press release. Volunteers served approximately 10,000 dinners in 2019.

This year's volunteers, many of whom are with St. Joseph Catholic Church, made about 3,000 pounds of pasta over a two-week period. They cracked about 10,000 eggs and used several thousand pounds of flour in the process, says Ryan Pianalto, the chairman of spaghetti-making.

The room consisted of several different stations designed for a specific part of the spaghetti-making process. One group cracked eggs in the kitchen, which were then put in the mixer to be combined with flour. The sheeter machine then turned the dough into a manageable thickness for the rollers.

Spaghetti makers finally cut the dough into thin strips and placed them on the drying rack to be cooked for the festival.

Every station is important to the process, and every person takes time and care to make sure the spaghetti is made right, says longtime resident Margie Ceola. She has been participating in the tradition ever since she moved to Tontitown almost 64 years ago.

Annette Pianalto, who has been involved in this tradition for about 30 years, says her favorite part of the process is cutting the dough. It was strange last year to not have the festival and not be able to make the pasta due to the pandemic, she says.

Ryan Pianalto has been participating in the spaghetti-making process since he was a kid and agrees it was tough to not be able to uphold his family's longtime tradition. He is excited to be able to make spaghetti with his family again this year and to share their hard work with the community.

Franco says she and many others are elated to return to the festival this year. Alice Walker, the festival's communications and marketing director, says she thinks the return of the festival after last year's cancellation means a lot to Tontitown residents and families because of its deep tradition and history that goes back for generations.

A group of Italian Catholic immigrants founded Tontitown in 1898 led by their priest, Father Pietro Bandini, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. The town is named for Henri de Tonti, an Italian who helped establish Arkansas Post and explored the Great Lakes Region and the Mississippi River Valley with his fellow explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle.

Settlers attended a picnic in June 1898 to observe the feast of St. Peter, Bandini's patron saint. Residents moved the picnic to August in 1913 to coincide with the grape harvest. This picnic is seen as a forerunner of the Tontitown Grape Festival, which is one of Arkansas' longest running annual community celebrations, the encyclopedia says.

Franco thinks what makes the spaghetti-making process so special is that it provides Tontitown families with the opportunity to gather together every year. The community has shown immense support for the town's tradition and festival, and Franco says she hopes Tontitown families will continue to share the infamous spaghetti dinners with the community for many years to come.

Debbie Verucchi hangs pasta noodles on a rack for drying Monday, July 19, 2021, at the St. Joseph's Parish Hall in Tontitown. More than 3,000 pounds of pasta noodles are being prepared for the 122nd Tontitown Grape Festival which runs Tuesday, August 3 through Saturday, August 7. The homemade spaghetti will be served August 5 through 7. Check out nwaonline.com/210801Daily/ and nwadg.com/photos for a photo gallery.(NWA Democrat-Gazette/David Gottschalk)
Debbie Verucchi hangs pasta noodles on a rack for drying Monday, July 19, 2021, at the St. Joseph's Parish Hall in Tontitown. More than 3,000 pounds of pasta noodles are being prepared for the 122nd Tontitown Grape Festival which runs Tuesday, August 3 through Saturday, August 7. The homemade spaghetti will be served August 5 through 7. Check out nwaonline.com/210801Daily/ and nwadg.com/photos for a photo gallery.(NWA Democrat-Gazette/David Gottschalk)
Egillio Pianalto (right) and Collin Pianalto assemble and stack boxes for pasta storage Monday, July 19, 2021, at the St. Joseph's Parish Hall in Tontitown. More than 3,000 pounds of pasta noodles are being prepared for the 122nd Tontitown Grape Festival which runs Tuesday, August 3 through Saturday, August 7. The homemade spaghetti will be served August 5 through 7. Check out nwaonline.com/210801Daily/ and nwadg.com/photos for a photo gallery.(NWA Democrat-Gazette/David Gottschalk)
Egillio Pianalto (right) and Collin Pianalto assemble and stack boxes for pasta storage Monday, July 19, 2021, at the St. Joseph's Parish Hall in Tontitown. More than 3,000 pounds of pasta noodles are being prepared for the 122nd Tontitown Grape Festival which runs Tuesday, August 3 through Saturday, August 7. The homemade spaghetti will be served August 5 through 7. Check out nwaonline.com/210801Daily/ and nwadg.com/photos for a photo gallery.(NWA Democrat-Gazette/David Gottschalk)
Sheets of pasta are passed through a roller Monday, July 19, 2021, at the St. Joseph's Parish Hall in Tontitown. More than 3,000 pounds of pasta noodles are being prepared for the 122nd Tontitown Grape Festival which runs Tuesday, August 3 through Saturday, August 7. The homemade spaghetti will be served August 5 through 7. Check out nwaonline.com/210801Daily/ and nwadg.com/photos for a photo gallery.(NWA Democrat-Gazette/David Gottschalk)
Sheets of pasta are passed through a roller Monday, July 19, 2021, at the St. Joseph's Parish Hall in Tontitown. More than 3,000 pounds of pasta noodles are being prepared for the 122nd Tontitown Grape Festival which runs Tuesday, August 3 through Saturday, August 7. The homemade spaghetti will be served August 5 through 7. Check out nwaonline.com/210801Daily/ and nwadg.com/photos for a photo gallery.(NWA Democrat-Gazette/David Gottschalk)
Margaret Piazza (left) receives sheets of pasta from Lydia Haden Monday, July 19, 2021, at the St. Joseph's Parish Hall in Tontitown. More than 3,000 pounds of pasta noodles are being prepared for the 122nd Tontitown Grape Festival which runs Tuesday, August 3 through Saturday, August 7. The homemade spaghetti will be served August 5 through 7. Check out nwaonline.com/210801Daily/ and nwadg.com/photos for a photo gallery.(NWA Democrat-Gazette/David Gottschalk)
Margaret Piazza (left) receives sheets of pasta from Lydia Haden Monday, July 19, 2021, at the St. Joseph's Parish Hall in Tontitown. More than 3,000 pounds of pasta noodles are being prepared for the 122nd Tontitown Grape Festival which runs Tuesday, August 3 through Saturday, August 7. The homemade spaghetti will be served August 5 through 7. Check out nwaonline.com/210801Daily/ and nwadg.com/photos for a photo gallery.(NWA Democrat-Gazette/David Gottschalk)
Elaine Sbanotto hangs pasta noodles on a rack for drying Monday, July 19, 2021, at the St. Joseph's Parish Hall in Tontitown. More than 3,000 pounds of pasta noodles are being prepared for the 122nd Tontitown Grape Festival which runs Tuesday, August 3 through Saturday, August 7. The homemade spaghetti will be served August 5 through 7. Check out nwaonline.com/210801Daily/ and nwadg.com/photos for a photo gallery.(NWA Democrat-Gazette/David Gottschalk)
Elaine Sbanotto hangs pasta noodles on a rack for drying Monday, July 19, 2021, at the St. Joseph's Parish Hall in Tontitown. More than 3,000 pounds of pasta noodles are being prepared for the 122nd Tontitown Grape Festival which runs Tuesday, August 3 through Saturday, August 7. The homemade spaghetti will be served August 5 through 7. Check out nwaonline.com/210801Daily/ and nwadg.com/photos for a photo gallery.(NWA Democrat-Gazette/David Gottschalk)

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Tontitown Grape

Festival Schedule

Today

3-7 p.m. — Museum open

3-10 p.m. — Arts & crafts fair

4:30-8:30 p.m. — Spaghetti dinners served

5-11 p.m. — Carnival

7 p.m. — Phil McGarrah & Runnin’ on Empty

9 p.m. — Heath Sanders

Friday

1-7 p.m. — Museum open

3-10 p.m. — Arts & crafts fair

4:30-8:30 p.m. — Spaghetti dinners served

5-11 p.m. — Carnival

7 p.m. — Divas on Fire

9 p.m. — Coronation of 122nd Queen Concordia

9:30 p.m. — Kevin Upshaw & One Night Stand

Saturday

7 a.m. — Run for the Grapes 5K Walk / Run

8 a.m. — Run for the Grapes Kids Run

10 a.m.-7 p.m. — Museum open

10 a.m.-10 p.m. — Arts & crafts fair

Noon — Local musicians take the stage

Noon — Carnival opens

4:30-8:30 p.m. — Spaghetti dinners served

7 p.m. — The Repo’d Trailers

9 p.m. — Cory Jackson

11 p.m. — Grand prize giveaway by Queen Concordia

Upcoming Events