Grapes of Laugh

It was a strange sight to witness: With her deep-red hair and her vivid ruby lips, Susan Trear was dancing in a wooden barrel filled with red seedless grapes to the tunes of Italian folk songs.

Though the scene was indeed reminiscent of an “I Love Lucy” episode, Sunday’s grape-stomping celebration in Irvine was for a deadly serious cause.

Nearly 300 people turned out at Irvine’s Prego Ristorante for the event, the 12th annual Festa Della Vendemmia, which raises money for the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation.

The goal, organizers said, is to raise enough money every year to increase research and eventually find a cure. The event is expected to raise $30,000 this year for the foundation.

Wiping out leukemia has become a personal crusade for event co-chairs Kim and John Weiner, whose 7-year-old daughter, Samantha, received a cancer diagnosis six years ago.

Devastated by the news but determined to do whatever they could, the Weiners became active in the foundation. Within a year of Samantha’s diagnosis, the couple had begun taking part in the Festa Della Vendemmia.

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“Our heart is really in this, because we do not want anyone else to go through what we have been through,” said Kim Weiner. “We are trying to make the best out of a bad situation.”

The Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation was founded in 1982 and has raised more than $6 million for research into the cancers that afflict young children. Cancer is the No. 1 killer of children younger than 18, according to the foundation.

At least 81% of the money donated to the foundation goes to research. And the research has begin to pay off. Since 1982, childhood leukemia, once almost certainly fatal, now has a 70% survival rate.

In an effort to make the annual fund-raiser an uplifting occasion, organizers decided to plan it around Italy’s traditional autumn harvest festival, when families throughout the country gather to pick grapes, crush them for the production of wine, and celebrate with music, dancing and eating.

But the Festa theme went a step further with the Lucille Ball look-alike contest, giving it a distinctly American twist. Throughout the afternoon, Lucy doubles stomped on grapes to commemorate the “I Love Lucy” episode in which she tried to experience the real Italy by getting knee-deep in a grape barrel.

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It takes some practice and talent to stomp grapes well, said Lucy look-alike Trear. Trear, whose red hair, big blue eyes and full red lips make her a dead ringer, has taken part in the event for the past five years.

“It feels good,” she said, looking down at the burgundy grape juice color of her feet. “But you have to be careful, because it gets slippery. It’s kind of a balancing act.”

Other Lucy wannabes, such as 8-year-old Cristina Rosetti--too young to remember the 1950s classic TV episode--opted out of the stomping this year, but happily wore the deep-red lipstick and big hoop earrings.

But on Sunday, both Trear and Rosetti lost out in the Lucy look-alike contest to Cindy Zerwekh of Garden Grove and her 5-year-old daughter, Desiree. Mother said daughter was thrilled to take part, “because she likes to put on make-up and dye her hair.”