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By Heather Stauffer, Sentinel Reporter, May 10, 2007

Last updated: Thursday, May 10, 2007 3:24 PM EDT

There they were, amid the multicultural swirl of music and food and color that was the 13th Annual Amani Festival: Father and son in baseball shirts.

Both bore the same number: 21.

Asked if he was familiar with baseball player Roberto Clemente, who brought the number to fame during his time with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Dave Harris said yes. Then, prodded by his wife, he elaborated.

“I’m from the Pittsburgh area,” said Harris, who now lives in Carlisle. He described himself as a lifelong fan of Clemente and explained that his admiration was the reason behind his number, which both of his sons now share.

Stories like the Harris’s were common throughout the festival which, in addition to its usual cultural themes, focused on baseball this year. More specifically, it focused on three baseball greats—Clemente, Josh Gibson and Babe Ruth—and the legacies they left.

Special guests for the festival included Luis Clemente, son of Roberto Clemente; Sean Gibson, great-grandson of Josh Gibson, “the black Babe Ruth”; and Linda Ruth Tossetti, granddaughter of Babe Ruth.

The combination drew a record crowd, according to festival committee chairman Dr. Eliseo Rosario.

“I don’t think that we would be lying much if we said 10,000,” Rosario said. “It was just the biggest crowd that we ever had.”

Speaking over the strains of “Lady of Spain, I Adore You,” Rosario said he was pleased with the way the festival was going.

Baseball, Rosario said, provides a great common point of interest on which people from different countries, cultures and age groups can connect. But, he said, perhaps even more important than the players’ legacies on the field were the progress they made toward integration.

Baseball not the draw for some

But for some attendees, like Carlisle resident Martha Ruby, the attraction wasn’t America’s pastime. “This is my favorite festival,” said Ruby, who came with her husband and children. “I come here every year for the food and the music.”

Asked what she liked best, Ruby replied, “The food.”

Of that, there was plenty to choose from. Aromas of Thai cuisine mixed with that of American cheese steaks and Creole fish, right down the street from a Maui Wowi stand offering Hawaiian drinks. Even more apparent was the variety of musical offerings—a Mexican celebration of Cinco de Mayo, a Korean youth drumming ensemble and the Wilson Middle School Jazz band, to name just a few.

Remembering Clemente

“He was my biggest hero,” said Paul Kutch, who sells Clemente shirts and memorabilia, of the player. Clemente, a native of Puerto Rico, died in a plane crash in 1972 while on a trip to deliver relief supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. “He was definitely a good role model.”

Four years ago, Kutch said, he left IBM to run his business, Clemente’s Clubhouse, full-time.

“They’re talking about him, telling stories about when he played,” said Klutch, noting that it took several hours before he talked to anyone who had to ask him why the number was significant.

Clemente’s number has been getting more attention lately, due to a growing effort to retire it. The festival ended at 4 p.m. so attendees who wanted to could watch “The Legacy of 21,” a documentary detailing Clemente’s career and contributions.

“I’m old enough to remember Roberto Clemente when he played for the Pittsburgh Pirates,” said Carlisle resident Jim Washington, who said he supports the effort to retire 21. “It should have been done a long time ago.”

Making a difference

Although the festival’s official T-shirts didn’t sport the number, they did bear a Clemente quotation.

“Any time you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don’t, then you are wasting your time on earth,” it read.

That quotation was the theme for this year’s poetry contest, which garnered more than 200 entries from area students.

One of the winning entries, titled “Taking the Time,” was from Big Springs High School 12th-grader Ben Boyer. Like the other winners, he was introduced by Clemente, Gibson and Tossetti, who were mobbed by autograph-seekers afterward.

“What is the point of living if you cannot do any giving?” Boyer asked, encouraging listeners to “hit it out of the park.”

“My grandfather was for diversity way back in the 1920s,” said Tossetti before going on stage. Ruth, she explained, told the baseball commissioners that they should include players from the Negro and Mexican leagues.

“He got fined for it,” Tossetti said. A fan came up and started talking to her, and when she turned away, she said, “This is why I do this like I do.”

The festival’s future

Rosario, who has been at the helm of the festival committee for years, said elections will take place this summer and he’s ready to move on to a different role. Now, he said, he’d like to focus on fund-raising, and work on getting corporate sponsorship for the festival.

Of the absence of the traditional opening procession, Rosario said, “I think it was lack of someone taking charge of that.” The festival’s pool of volunteers has been dwindling, he said, noting that it is facing the same problems that many other civic and charitable organizations are right now.

What the festival needs, Rosario said, is a fresh infusion of passion.

“We need to look like we’re 13 years old,” Rosario said. “I still want to bring in international artists: We’re in that league now.”