The next generation of Guelph's grease pole climbers made his debut at Festival Italiano Saturday night.
Marco Aramini, 18, is the son of Amelio Aramini, who back in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s was on a team that won 12 consecutive grease pole competitions, retiring undefeated.
"He's a little monkey, just look at him," said the younger Aramini's teammate, Giancarlo Raso, just before the start of Saturday's popular competition on Ferguson Street.
While it was a new team that won the event, it wasn't the one led by the younger Aramini.
I Am Legend, a team made up of Blake Carere, Turk Ciftci, Waleed Rhamaty and Christian Navarro were the winners of the trophies and $1,000 prize, taking roughly an hour to climb the 32-foot telephone pole slathered in five gallons of industrial strength grease.
The team of Derek Montalbetti, Travis Van Ryn, Dave Hogan and Tom Nestman saw their streak of nine straight wins come to an end.
“Trying to carry the tradition on,” said Marco Aramini prior to the event. “Hopefully genetics come into play.”
Lots of burlap, straw and old clothes were on hand to help the three teams make their attempts.
“You need that monkey ability in you,” said Amelio as he watched his son compete, occasionally calling him over to the sidelines to offer advice.
“You need a strong, good climber. The rest of the team is important too and it takes a lot of stamina,” said Amelio, whose team retired undefeated in grease pole competition.
“He’s always wanted to do it since he was young coming to watch me do it, and for whatever reason it just popped into his head this year that he was going to do it.”
Nice weather helped with a solid turnout for this year’s festival, which moved to a later date in the year and dropped the midway and carnival that had been a part of the festivities in the past.
Entertainment, food, and the various competitions – grease pole, cheese role, spaghetti eating, grape stomping and ice cream eating – were the focus this year.
