Opulent Surprise Birthday Party Honors Sam Covelli
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Hundreds of business and community leaders joined Sam Covelli’s friends and family Friday night in keeping what may well have been the best kept secret in the history of the Mahoning Valley. After a few rehearsals, and then on cue as “Shhhh…!” signs alerted the crowd, guests shouted “Happy Birthday” to Covelli as he walked onto the floor of the Covelli Centre.
The surprise birthday party for Covelli, who turned 60, is quite likely the most lavish event those invited will ever attend. Save-the-date notices were sent to guests weeks before, and when the invitations arrived, they included a rendering of Sam Covelli disco dancing 40 years ago.
Indeed, the arena that bears his company’s name was transformed into “Studio 60” with a huge disco ball hung from the ceiling. The decorations didn’t stop there. All types of 1970s-style glittering illuminations were hung: disco-era couches, chairs and high-top tables were placed throughout the floor, making the only arena signs still visible the highest-level banner ads.
Guests were treated to a full open bar of top-shelf liquors, bartenders who juggled flaming bottles, mounds of fresh shrimp, crab and lobster, small plates of chicken, beef filet, and much, ever so much more. Serving drinks was the least of the bartenders’ talents as they put on a show of their own, lighting and juggling bottles, then consuming 151-proof rum and exhaling as the lit bottles ignited their breaths three feet in the air.
One observer guessed the cost at $100,000, prompting another to respond, “Not even close.”
“This is amazing!” exclaimed Ron Klingle, CEO of Avalon Holdings Co, one of the many business leaders in attendance.
“Sam’s quite a guy and this is quite a party,” said Bruce Zoldan, CEO of B.J. Alan Co.
Guests were invited to dress in bell-bottom jeans and platform shoes or wear their “party best.” Some wore big-hair wigs and ‘70s-era attire, including David Bozanich, finance director of the city of Youngstown. Others wore their sparkling disco dance tops, including Gina Marinelli, the former TV anchor who now helps lead the Humility of Mary charitable foundation.
Among the guests were Bishop George V. Murry, spiritual leader of the Diocese of Youngstown, and Robert Shroder, CEO of Humility of Mary Health Partners, a big beneficiary of Covelli’s philanthropy at the Joannie Abdu Comprehensive Breast Care Center.
Oversized sunglasses with small disco balls and party hats were passed out. Waiters and waitresses dressed in disco costumes circulated, some on roller skates, others on stilts and serving plates of hors d’oerves from boxes hanging by strings .
Covelli is the owner of Covelli Enterprises, the Warren-based operator of Panera Bread and Dairy Queen franchises across the country and Canada. His wife, Caryn, oversaw the event, staged by Something New Events of Canfield. Joe Mineo, the company’s “creative force and design innovator,” according to its website, could be seen walking briskly through the venue, making sure everything came off as he planned.
And it did. To the smallest detail.
“Thank you!” Covelli said over and over again as guests congratulated him. With a wide smile, he bowed and shook his head, seemingly astounded at all that was happening as his family and father, Albert Covelli, founder of the family business, watched nearby.
Then came a huge cardboard cake and another surprise (sort of) -- the lead signer of one of the bands emerging and wrapping her scarf around a blushing Covelli’s neck. She led him to the dance floor and the crowd followed.
The drinks and food flowed and so did the bands’ disco music. The dance floor was packed, the atmosphere jubilant, a party Great Gatsby-like in its opulence.
How did all these people manage to keep the secret? Who knows? But we do know how Covelli was lured to the surprise party thanks to one of the co-conspirators, Covelli Centre manager Eric Ryan.
“I told Sam we were having a private cocktail party of key people in the shale industry and we needed him to come. He wasn’t happy about it,” Ryan said. “On Friday nights, he likes to kick back and relax.”
Because civic duty and the economic development of the Mahoning Valley are important to Covelli, Ryan had no doubt that the ruse would work.
The secret was kept.
Dennis LaRue contributed reporting to this story.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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