Eagle Town Council to declare Tuesday ‘Pasta to the People Day’
Mayor issues proclamation in honor of recently closed Italian restaurant, Pastatively
Eagle Mayor Scott Turnipseed issued a proclamation declaring Tuesday as “Pasta to the People Day,” a new local holiday meant to honor the beloved, recently closed Italian restaurant, Pastatively.
The proclamation reads like a playful love letter to the restaurant, which closed Saturday after 17 years of filling local bellies with “Italian soul food,” co-owner Roberto Cammarota said.
“Pasta to the People Day” is a reference to posters and T-shirts the restaurant made with the image of a fist holding pasta alongside the phrase, a play on the revolutionary rallying cry “power to the people,” Cammarota said.
“We just wanted to say thank you to (co-owner Dave Foster) and (Cammarota) for all the great food that they served up for so many years,” Turnipseed said Monday.
The proclamation will be formally presented before the Eagle Town Council at its Tuesday evening meeting.
Support Local Journalism
Turnipseed said he and his wife were inspired by the alliteration of a proclamation for Pastatively, and so, instead of your run-of-the-mill municipal proclamation — essentially just a fancy statement pushed out into the community — they decided to get creative.
“…The pasta loving people of this prime piece of paradise proudly proclaim their passionate appreciation for the presence of the premium pasta place, Pastatively!” the proclamation begins.
Tucked away in the declaration of support for Pastatively is an inside joke between Cammarota and the mayor, Cammarota said.
For years, Cammarota had been petitioning the Eagle Town Council to decorate Market Street with lights during the holiday season as is done in downtown Eagle along Broadway. Market Street brings in much of the town’s revenue, Cammarota said, and therefore, deserves to be celebrated.
Cammarota’s dedication in repeatedly bringing the need for “twinkle lights” before the Town Council caught the eye of Turnipseed, who vowed to make it happen if elected mayor, Turnipseed recalled.
Turnipseed was sworn in as mayor in the spring of 2020, and true to his word, Cammarota got to see Market Street go up in lights for what would be Pastatively’s last holiday season in business.
“We are truly sorry it took so long, but it has to be said: We should never have gotten you those twinkle lights; they seem to have chased you away!” the proclamation reads.
About two weeks before the Christmas holiday last year, after the lights went up, Turnipseed went to Pastatively for dinner, and Cammarota surprised him by staging one of his classic speeches, interrupting the casual chit chat of the dining room.
“‘Twas two weeks before Christmas and what to my wonderous eyes did appear, but twinkle lights on Market Street this year,” Cammarota recalled the words he had bellowed out across the space.
The proclamation was a funny way to get back at Cammarota but also felt like the right way to commemorate the disappearance of a longstanding community landmark, Turnipseed said.
“It was sort of silly on one hand and on the other hand sort of serious like, ‘Hey you guys were awesome for Eagle and thank you so much for all the time,'” Turnipseed said.
He said he plans to present Pastatively’s two co-owners, Cammarota and Foster, with framed copies of the proclamation at Tuesday’s meeting.
“That just goes to show you what kind of town Eagle is,” Cammarota said. “You can have a voice in your future and how you want to see your community and your world around you to be, because that’s the kind of community Eagle is. You have an opinion; you can do it.”
“There’s no pretense here,” he added. “This is a community of people, hardworking individuals, all trying to stay alive, and it’s good that we can all banter back and forth with one another and have fun.”
Cammarota encouraged people to celebrate the day by buying a jar of Pastatively pasta sauce from City Market and crafting up an Italian favorite for dinner.