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FAWTA J'LYE CELEBRATIONS

by FRANK O'DONNELL
JUNE 2006

North Providence gets festive this time of year, preparing to celebrate the nation's independence.  People in surrounding communities call it the Fourth of July. Around here, we know better. It's the Fawta J'Lye.

When you spell it out, it looks like a character from the bar scene in "Star Wars," doesn't it?

"Han Solo, meet Fawta J'Lye. Fawta, this is Han."

"Yo, Han, how youse doin'?" That's Fawta speaking, in case you were confused.

To capture the full flavor of  the Fawta J'Lye in North Providence, I sat down with Vinny Robusto, whose North Providence roots stretch all the way back to 1770, when his ancestors came to town on a tomato boat from the Old World.

"Yo, Frankie, how youse doin'?" That's Vinny speaking, in case you were confused. Natives of North Providence seem to feel the need to tack an "ee" onto everyone's name.

My theory is that it's because so many of them already have one on theirs, and they want to make you part of the club. So Frank becomes Frankie. Louis becomes Louie. Marcia becomes Marcie. Deeb becomes Deebie. And so on.

So, I ask Vinny about the Fawta J'Lye.

"Oooh, I love dat day, don't youse? Cookin' the sauseech an peppahs onna grill. Ain't nuttin like it, know what I'm sayin'?"

My editor's Spell Check is about to explode, so perhaps I should translate. Vinny loves cooking sausage and peppers on his grill on the Fawta J'Lye. The experience is incomparable.

I want to know about Vinny's family history with the Fawta J'Lye.

Turns out, the Robustos were instrumental in the nation's first Fawta J'Lye celebration, "back in the daza arigott."

I'm not sure what that expression means. It refers in some way to ricotta cheese – what that has to do with history, I can't really say.

According to Vinny, Ezekiel Robusto, his great great great great great great grandfather – "sumpin' like dat" – fought alongside Captain Stephen Olney, arguably North Providence's most famous patriot, in the Revolutionary War.

"He was wittim on Lawn Guylan, an den in Jursee, den dey wenta Yawktown."

I think that means Grandpa Ezekiel was on the campaign trail with Olney, through Long Island and New Jersey, ending up in Yorktown. Vinny nods in agreement.

As I press Vinny for more details, I find that Grandpa Ezekiel was Stephen Olney's personal chef. "Notfanuttin, but dat Cappen loved his cacciatore!"

Stephen Olney, so addicted to Italian cuisine, that he traveled with a personal chef? I find that hard to believe.

Vinny protests that it's "da troot!" That's when he tells me how Grandpa Ezekiel started the tradition of Fawta J'Lye fireworks. It wasn't with the overhead explosives to which we've become accustomed.

"Dis is what happened, awight? Da boys wuz makin dare way home from da waw. It wuz a hart summah night, and dey realized, hey, it's the Fawta J'Lye." It was indeed the anniversary of the day on which America declared its independence from England. "Wonna dem sez, we gotta trow a pahtee." But they had nothing with which to celebrate, except their firearms and Ezekiel's surplus of tomatoes.

"Den, like dat, Granpa Zeke sez, tahgett practice!"

So the revolutionary warriors lined up tomatoes on a nearby rock wall, and opened fire.

The combination of exploding red fruit and the sparks thrown up by bullets hitting the rock wall was quit pleasing to the colonists, and a tradition was born.

The celebration has become more sophisticated, but to this day, the North Providence Fourth of July Fireworks incorporates a large number of bright red starbursts in the repertoire, an homage to the day when Ezekiel Robusto and his excess fruit gave birth to an American tradition.

As Vinny Robusto says every Fawta J'Lye, "how youse like dem tahmaytas?"