McAlester News-Capital, McAlester, OK

Homepage

Related Photos

Discussion

Add a comment on this story
April 12, 2006

¡Viva Italiano!

By James Beaty

Italian sausage and a standing ovation.

Actually, several more bits of Italian cuisine were acknowledged during the rousing ovation representatives of Krebs and McAlester received at the state Capitol on Tuesday.

The cities were named as the official Italian capital of Oklahoma by a measure passed in the Oklahoma House. A companion bill also passed in the Senate.

“The Chamber is very excited to get this official proclamation that Krebs/McAlester is the Italian capital of Oklahoma,” said McAlester Chamber of Commerce & Agriculture President Evans McBride.

“We will now be able to promote throughout the state of Oklahoma to bring more travelers to our fine community.”

The resolutions also noted the connection the Italian restaurants had to the area’s coal mining heritage — since some of the restaurant founders began by selling sandwiches to the miners.

“I’m really proud because our ancestors worked so hard to do what they did,” said Elizabeth Prichard, who is co-owner with her brothers and sisters of Roseanna’s Italian Food in Krebs.

Prichard is the granddaughter of Pete Prichard and the daughter of Frank Prichard.

“They did it to make ends meet and now it’s become a real big thing that brings everyone to Krebs and McAlester.”

All three legislators from Pittsburg County were present for the honors. District 18 state Rep. Terry Harrison, D-McAlester, and District 17 state Rep. Mike Mass, D-Hartshorne, were co-presenters of the House resolution.

District 7 state Sen. Richard Lerblance, D-Hartshorne, did the honors on the Senate side.

The resolution honoring the cities noted the Krebs and McAlester area’s Italian and coal-mining heritage.

House Resolution 1098 proclaimed that:

• Many Italians migrated to America to find honest but hard work in the often dangerous cola mines, such as those of the Krebs/McAlester area of what was then Indian Territory.

• Some in the Italian community in the Krebs/McAlester area opened their homes to serve home-cooked Italian meals to the coal miners after a long back-breaking day in the mine.

• The Italian Community in the Krebs/McAlester area flourished thrived and grew over the years.

• Some Italians in the Krebs/McAlester area eventually established some of the finest family-style Italian restaurants in America.

The House and Senate proclaimed that the communities of Krebs and McAlester “be forever known as the Italian capital of Oklahoma.”

A contingent from the McAlester Area Chamber of Commerce & Agriculture traveled to the state Capitol to hear the resolutions passed. They also took food samples from all the Italian restaurants in the two cites for the legislators and visitors to the capitol building to sample.

Prichard said she would have liked to have gone to Oklahoma City to see the resolution passed —but she had been too busy serving Italian food at Roseanna’s.

Text Only
Local News
Sports
Features
Concert.jpg

The band Anacrusis is set to perform at Thursday’s Concert in the Park. Band members are, from left: Chris Mayhew, William Long, D. J. White and Nick Wingo. Music is to begin around 8 p.m. at McAlester’s Rotary Park. , adjacent to the J.I. Stipe Center at 801 N. Ninth St.

Opinion
Letters
Editorials
Poll

Where do you spend the majority of your big-ticket shopping dollars (cars, appliances, furniture, clothes)?

I shop exclusively in McAlester
I spend 70 to 90 percent of my shopping dollars in McAlester
I spend approximately half of my shopping dollars in McAlester
I spend 20 to 40 percent of my shopping dollars in McAlester
I never shop in McAlester
     View Results
NDN Video
AP Video
Parade
Magazine
Click HERE to read all your Parade favorites including Hollywood Wire, Celebrity interviews and photo galleries, Food recipes and cooking tips, Games and lots more.