T-L Photos/GAGE VOTA Sons of Italy members prepare the sausage that the club will sell at the Undo’s Upper Ohio Valley Italian Heritage Festival. Volunteers include, clockwise from left, Doug Hartlieb, Nick Deblasis, Dave Badia, and Bob Sall.

BELLAIRE — Sons of Italy members are preparing for the Undo’s Upper Ohio Valley Italian Heritage Festival, which takes place Friday through Sunday at Heritage Port in downtown Wheeling.

The organization met Tuesday morning to prepare 6,800 authentic sausage sandwiches. It purchased the bread for the sandwiches from Cellone Italian Bread Co. in Pittsburgh and the pork to make the sausage from Jacob and Sons Quality Meats in Martins Ferry.

“Today we’re finishing up making the sausage for the Italian Festival. We have two tables full of ladies who are cutting the buns for our sausage links,” Sons of Italy President Bill Ault said.

The Sons of Italy is a volunteer organization, and everyone involved in the preparation for the Italian Fest is volunteering their time to provide the organization with the help that it needs.

“We don’t make any money. We have to keep some money to keep the building running, but other than that the only people who get paid are our bartenders and cleaning crew,” Ault said.

The organization plans to be prepared to set up at the Italian Festival on Thursday morning and then will be selling sausage during the entire duration of the Italian Festival.

As well as the sausage, the Sons of Italy will be selling its most recent cookbook.

“We have a cultural committee and these ladies are hard workers. This is our second edition cookbook. We made one 10 years ago, and now we have a new one,” Ault said.

The cookbook contains an array of authentic Italian recipes from several local families who shared the recipes with the Sons of Italy. It has over 200 recipes that are organized by the type of dish and the region of Italy where it originated.

“These aren’t recipes copied from a book anywhere. This is a way that their mother or grandmother or their whole family have cooked,” he added. “It’s all set up in different regions of Italy, so you can see the difference in the recipes from Milan down to Sicily.”

Anyone not available to purchase the book at the Italian Festival can either stop by the Sons of Italy location in Bellaire at 3348 Belmont Street or call 740-676-7137.

Ault believes the Italian Festival is not only important for the Italian American community in the Ohio Valley but also for the local economy.

“We just bought 6,800 buns from Cellone’s and 3,000 pounds of pork from Jacobs in Martins Ferry, so it’s important for the economy,” he noted. “This is our single biggest event, our single biggest money maker.”

The Sons of Italy uses the money made from the Italian Festival to donate to the community.

“We are a nonprofit organization, and we donate money to almost any organization that asks,”

Ault said.

He noted that the Sons of Italy has awarded $7,000 worth of scholarships.

The Sons of Italy hosts spaghetti dinners from 4-7 p.m. every Thursday at the lodge. Ault said that it isn’t uncommon for the organization to serve 300 meals during the weekly dinners.

“People are coming,and they love the sauce. We’ve got a good crew of people, and we make the sauce constantly. It’s all fresh. It’s a great organization. It’s the only one I belong to,” Ault added. “This is not the Sons of Italy bar and grill. This is a cultural club for the Italian families, and we keep it going.”

The festival officially opens at noon Friday with entertainment beginning at 12:30 p.m. and continuing throughout the afternoon and evening on the Main Stage at Heritage Port. Things get underway again at 11:30 a.m. Saturday with a Veterans Appreciation Ceremony. The day’s activities conclude with a fireworks display at 11 p.m.

The final day of the festival begins at 10 a.m. Sunday with a Catholic Mass, followed by entertainment that continues through 4 p.m.