Niles festival on ‘go-to’ list for homemade Valley favorite

NILES, Ohio (WKBN) – Our Lady of Mount Carmel Summer Festival in Niles kicked off Thursday, and there are more than a couple of things that keep people coming back year after year.

If you’ve ever been to the festival, you’ll notice a new layout this year. The food stations have moved from behind the old school and church to a parking lot in front of the new parish center

An additional tent with 150 seats was also added, bringing the amount of tented sitting space to about 400 seats.

A big concern though for the thousands of people who attend the festival is where to park. Deacon Michael Hanshaw said there is parking space nearby.

“There’s parking on either end of the festival grounds, at some of the stores. They have graciously allowed us to let people park there, so that’s a big help,” Hanshaw said.

Once parked and inside the festival, the thousands who attend will be drawn to the food. There are no food trucks at this festival, everything is prepared and sold by parish volunteers.

The air around the festival is filled with the aroma of Italian food where you can get red, potato and spinach pizzas; sausage, meatball, chicken parm, steak hoagies and fried bologna sandwiches; smelts and calamari; cavatelli and homemade meatballs, bakery specialties, pop, beer, lemon shakes and, of course, the famous cheesepuffs and twists.

“It’s one of my three main events for the whole year,” said Ron Reigle, of Niles.

Volunteers began making cheesepuffs last week . Lines were already forming on day one of the festival for the tasty festival favorites.

“They’re just delicious,” said Carmela Stawiski, of Warren.

One thing is a guarantee — there will be a line of people patiently waiting for those cheesepuffs.

“You can see every time you come, the lines are so long we can’t keep up with the orders because that’s a big staple of our festival, Hanshaw said.

Sam Ragozine is working the fryers. He says the parish still uses the family recipe from 50 years ago.

“I keep the family tradition going,” Ragozine said. “They used to make these in frying pans on stoves in those days.”

The puffs have become the festival’s claim to fame, and if you ask people who get the tasty fried dough wrapped around cheese, they’ll tell you why.

“The tradition. It’s the tradition. They’re just so good. They’re fried –the dough is fried. It’s a simple recipe, really simple but good,” said Carmella Stawiski, of Warren.

“Believe it or not, I never used to like them and then I tasted them a couple of years ago and I’m addicted to them. They’re just so good,” said Suzanne Susko, of Warren.

Jason Gibson is moving to Florida Friday but picked up a cheese puff before he left.

“I had to come down here and get myself a cheese puff for the road,” Gibson said.

Ragozine said people love the puffs because they are good and reasonably priced.

“That’s the key. They’re not like some other festivals where you go and get a sandwich that’s $9 or $10. Here, you get a cheese puff for $4. It’s well worth it, and the twists are only $3.” he said.

The money raised by food sales goes directly to the parish. This year, the profits will be put toward paying back a loan for the new parish center.

“We have 10 years to pay for the building, so that’ll help greatly. It doesn’t take away from the parish funds to operate the parish itself,’ Hanshaw said.

Hanshaw says after all expenses were paid, last year’s festival raised about $210,000. That money was used to buy the equipment and furniture in the new parish center.

The festival is celebrating 91 years this year and runs through Sunday.

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