DAPHNE, Ala. — While artists and craftsmen showcase their wares in Fairhope, parishioners at Christ the King Catholic Church will showcase their Italian heritage and serve up some authentic Italian fare.

Christ the King’s Ladies Sodality will host its annual Festa Italiana on Sunday with takeout dinners beginning at 10: 30 a.m. and regular dinners available from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Mary Francis, president of the Ladies Sodality, said the event will be full of Italian food, history and fun.

“It is a great community builder,” said Francis. “It is a great time for all of us to come together and work together to benefit the church. It is a good time for everybody.”

The main food attraction will be the spaghetti dinner, which will be prepared under the watchful eye of Helen Callaway, one of the event’s original organizers. Callaway has been involved in the cooking for the event since 1970, when it began.

“The recipe is all in her head, I think,” Francis said.

The spaghetti dinner will be available for dine-in or takeout at the church’s gymnasium off Main Street in Daphne. Meals will be sold for $8 adults and $4 for children, and will include spaghetti with meat sauce, bread, salad and a drink.

Francis said cannolis, Italian pastries, cookies, homemade breads, cakes and hand-held pizzas will be available.

The Italian connection doesn’t stop with the food. Francis said there will be an accordion player and she hopes to have the Italian heritage and local history on display as well.

An arts and crafts booth with First Communion items and a “trash and treasure” booth selling vintage jewelry will also be included in the event.

The ladies sodality will also have a raffle at the event.

Raffle tickets are sold before the event by parishioners. The first-place winner receives $500, the second-place winner receives $300 and the third-place winner receives a basket of cheer.

The Festa Italiana began as a place to feed overflow traffic from the Arts and Crafts festival in Fairhope because restaurants at the time couldn’t handle the number of people looking for a meal, but the ladies sodality has kept the event going for more than 40 years.

Francis said the event has grown with the church to include many of the parishioners and in recent years organizers have branched out to offer take-out dinners.

“As the church has grown the event has grown as well and it is always full. We are just very happy and blessed to always have a good and full crowd,” Francis said.

All funds raised by the event fund the Ladies Sodality and are used for the upkeep of the church.

Map:

View Larger Map