1st Annual Meatball Fest – Pandola Learning Center
January 8, 2017 – Little Italy Lodge
Pictured (LtoR) Joey Gardella, Joe Benny’s owner; and Phil Fiore, meatball eating contest winner
Pictured (LtoR) Ann Costlow, Sofi’s Crepes founder; Stephan Kowalcysyk, Provencher & Do. business development director; Rick DiMarco, DiMarco Brothers Painting owner; and Marilyn DiMarco, Annapolis-based artist
Pictured (LtoR) Tony Walmsley, Little Italy Lodge volunteer; Amedeo Ebrahimpour, Osteria di Amedeo owner; and Pat Novak, Mercy Medical Center nuclear physicist
Pictured (LtoR) Michael Hudak, Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office assistant state’s attorney; Marcella Volini, Baltimore-based artist; and Thomas Volini, retired contractor
Pictured (LtoR) Billy Hood, Baltimore-based nonprofit manager; Lily Roggenkamp, Georgetown University Lombardi Cancer Center development coordinator; Anabel Reyes, Anne Arundel County Department of Health environmental health specialist; and Francis Reyes, Anthem senior health promotion consultant
Pictured (LtoR) Margaret Occhiogrosso-Miller, Best Meatballs contest winner/Aldo’s Italian Restaurant event manager/bartender; and Ron Matz, WJZ TV reporter
Pictured (LtoR) Event volunteers: Joanne Mandato, Salon Method owner; Bob Taylor, retired Baltimore city firefighter/Little Italy Lodge past president; Kimber Goodwin, Blonde Marketing president; and Leesa McShane, Elm Group director of business development
Pictured (LtoR) Alanna Clements, Anne Arundel County Public Schools American Sign Language teacher; Cecilia Traini, Comptroller of Maryland attorney; David Traini, B&D Plumbing owner; and Christina Traini, retired baker
(January 8, 2017) To say the “1st Annual Meatball Fest” was a success was just a bit of an understatement. The food fest at the Little Italy Lodge was a sellout, with folks jamming the place to sample a variety of the scrumptious little spheres. It all benefited the Pandola Learning Center in Little Italy.
The afternoon event also featured a best meatball contest, and a meatball eating contest. All of the contestants of the latter were still smiling as they posed with event organizer Joey Gardella, Joe Benny’s owner.
