Correspondent photos / Sean Barron Jim Toto, foreground, and Kole Klasic collaborate in preparing Bracciole Bros. sandwiches Friday for the 32nd annual Brier Hill Italian Fest in Youngstown’s Brier Hill neighborhood.

YOUNGSTOWN — Versions of Brier Hill pizza’s history and origins vary somewhat, but one aspect of one of the area’s most well-known foods was cut straight: A lot of it disappeared — and fast.

“We sold about 1,400 pizzas last year and we’re on target for over 1,500 this year,” Ernie DiRenzo, who runs St. Anthony of Padua Church’s pizza fundraiser, said Friday.

He was referring to the very rapid sales pace that tied together last year’s Brier Hill Italian Fest and this year’s 32nd annual festival, which began Thursday and continues Saturday and Sunday on and near Victoria and Calvin streets in the Brier Hill neighborhood on the North Side.

The free gathering continues 2 p.m. to midnight Saturday and 1 p.m. to midnight Sunday.

One version of the popular pizza’s origin states that, decades ago, the pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Church, across the street from the festival, asked some of the women congregants to prepare the food then sell it. Another holds that in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it was sold on Fridays at St. Anthony School and eventually became a regular fundraiser, he said.

Calling it “kind of a (Great) Depression pizza,” its ingredients consisted largely of tomatoes and peppers from many Italian people’s gardens, with Romano instead of mozzarella cheese added.

“It was a cheap way to feed the family,” DiRenzo said, adding that the pizza’s motto is “Often imitated but never duplicated.”

In 1972, St. Anthony’s pastor gave the pizza its current name, he noted.

On Thursday, the popular food sold out in about three hours, with 342 pizzas having been bought. Less than two hours after the fest got underway Friday, an estimated 350 pizzas had sold, Erich Kist, a St. Anthony of Padua Church member, said, adding that only about 14 boxes were left.

“These guys sell out every day; they can’t make enough,” Joey Naples, a Brier Hill Fest co-chairman, said. “They sell out as quickly as they bring it down.”

If sales of the pizza had any sales competition, it might have been Bracciole Bros. sandwiches.

“It literally melts in your mouth,” Paul Sammartino, who has been at the festival for about 25 or 26 years, said about the Italian rolled stuffed steak sandwiches.

Eating the delicacies may be the easy part, but preparing them is anything but routine. A slice of thin sirloin steak is cut, then a mix of Italian spices, Romano cheese, eggs and seasoned bread crumbs are added with batter on top of the meat, which is rolled into a “perfect spiral,” held together similarly to a pepperoni roll and cooked in spaghetti sauce for four hours until the steak is soft and tender, Sammartino explained.

By then, the meals are ready to be placed in 6-inch split-top buns and topped with Hungarian wax peppers and sprinkled with Romano cheese, he added.

More than 30 food and table vendors make up this year’s fest, Naples said, adding that more than 20,000 people came to last year’s event.

Dominic Modarelli, whose late father, Dominic “Dee Dee” Modarelli, founded the fest, said that the idea began with a one-time reunion the elder Modarelli wanted to have to bring together people from the neighborhood as well as those who had left. Over time, that gathering morphed into the festival that draws tens of thousands of people from all over the U.S., each year, he and Naples said.

Specifically, “Dee Dee” Modarelli, who was a bricklayer by trade, bought Kayo’s Bar (now Brier Hill ITAM Club, Post 12) at Calvin and Victoria streets, then built a pavilion and a bocce court. In addition, he erected an Italian War Memorial to honor the neighborhood’s veterans who served in World War II as well as in the Korean and Vietnam wars.

The memorial was dedicated Aug. 31, 1985, the younger Modarelli said.

“I just try to keep my dad’s dream alive,” he added.

Modarelli and Naples said they hope people’s greatest takeaways from the fest are to more deeply appreciate the bonds of family, along with unity and culture of the neighborhoods, to which many immigrants began settling in the 1890s.

The 2024 Brier Hill Italian Fest’s Man of the Year was Mahoning County Treasurer Daniel R. Yemma. This year’s Woman of the Year was Modarelli’s mother, Rose Modarelli, affectionately known as “Tootsie.”

Saturday’s musical entertainment will consist of the Jim Frank Combo, along with the Rex Taneri, Mikey Dee and Bill Bevec bands. Sunday’s entertainment lineup will be the Lowellville Marching Band and the Jim Frank Combo as well as Taneri, Dee and Bevec.

In addition, the fest consists of a variety of games and activities, along with common foods such as elephant ears, milkshakes, cavatelli, sausage sandwiches, stromboli, french fries, apple dumplings and baked goods.

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