Lagomarcino’s celebrates landmark anniversary of Moline confectionary

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By Linda Cook | Sunday, July 20, 2008 11:36 PM CDT | () comments

Daniel Edwards, 8, of Silvis, Ill., looks at all the chocolates at Lagomarcino's during the 100th anniversary celebration Sunday, July 20, 2008, in Moline, Ill. (Andrew Link/QUAD-CITY TIMES) Buy this Photo

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The afternoon was full of sweet times, sweet reunions and sweet reminiscing — a perfectly delicious celebration of the 100th year of a landmark Moline confectionary shop.

Lagomarcino’s “100 Years of Sweet Memories” event included the store’s signature candy and ice cream and throngs of well-wishers along closed-off 5th Avenue. Couples danced in the street to the strains of “The Jersey Bounce” and other tunes performed by the Tony Hamilton Orchestra.

Everywhere, event-goers — some who hadn’t seen each other for years — embraced and reminisced. Among them was Arno Panicucci, of Moline. “My dad worked here in the late ’20s when he was in high school,” Panicucci said. “He made candy in the basement.”

Panicucci said he “never realized (the event) was going to be this big. It’s just super.” He has had coffee regularly at Lagomarcino’s for 30 or 40 years.

The invitation-only event observed the 100th year of the business that Angelo Lagomarcino, an immigrant from Northern Italy, started in 1908. Photo montages and advertisements were part of the displays.

Angelo Lagomarcino’s son, Tom, and his wife, Betsy, held court in a booth at the back of the store where hundreds waited in line to shake hands with and hug the couple.

“The kids planned it,” Betsy Lagomarcino said in between hugs and hellos. “They all gathered up a lot of photographs.

“I think he (her husband) worked since he was about 12. They lived upstairs, you know.”

You didn’t have to share the last name of “Lagomarcino” to become part of the family. Employees and employees’ families were all part of the Lagomarcino clan.

Sue Roberts, of Rock Island, worked at the confectionary for some time. Now she’s a special-education teacher in New Boston, Ill.

She credits the Lagomarcinos for her ability to relate to everyone, including her students. “You could take the time to be interested in their (customers’) lives,” she said. “Tom always said, ‘You mix a little fun with a little work.’ I enjoyed coming here every day.”

She then joined the crowd outside to take in the music and the 30 classic cars in a display presented by the Quad-Cities Cruisers and the Quad-Cities Antique Ford Club. Randy LeBeau, of Bettendorf, sat near his 1967 Mustang GT and enjoyed hearing people exclaim over it.

“I’m the third owner, and it has 46,000 original miles,” he said of the gleaming turquoise machine. “If there’s a local cruise or car show, usually try to get there.”

LeBeau, among those who have known the Lagomarcinos for years, said that the younger Tom Lagomarcino “is a heckuva nice guy.”

Among the hundreds of others with connections to the family was Peter McDermott, of Moline, who wore a T-shirt with the enigmatic word “kumquat” on it. When he was 16, he said, he traveled to California, then came back to Lagomarcinos to ask if they had kumquats, which he had seen on his trip. “Every time I walk in here, they call me ‘Kumquat,’” he said.

Kathleen Thompson, of Moline, also had fun returning to Lagomarcinos after moving back to the area. “When I lived here before, this was the stopping place, always. My first stop back was here,” she said.

Jerry Wallaert, of Moline, summed it up: “They’re just fine people ... a wonderful family.”

Tom Lagomarcino, one of the third-generation family members said the event was, “Everything I hoped it would be ... and more.

“To me, heaven is being with your family and friends and you get to visit with them and there’s no clock,” he said.

“Today was just a little bit of heaven. We’ve become a part of other peoples’ families and traditions, and it doesn’t get better than that.”

The city desk can be contacted at (563) 383-2450 or newsroom@qctimes.com.