Friends and Family Remember Dante Vaghi With Ceremony

March 25th marked exactly one year since local legend Dante Vaghi passed away, but he continues to be missed and remembered by his friends and family. 

On March 10^th, about two dozen residents paid homage to Vaghi, a Bethel resident who welcomed friends from all places, especially extra-terrestrials. The celebration honored Vaghi's first UFO sighting in 1950. Wonder Woman aka Eileen Jelinski, Paul Vaghi, Nino Vaghi, nephew of Dante, Dave and Nick Barzetti from Barzetti Welding, and several other family and friends of Dante came to Barnum Square to remember him.

 The replica of the 300' flying wing that Dante saw in 1950 was also on hand. To commemorate the moment, Jelinski read a letter from the Smithsonian Air and Space at exactly 4:40 p.m., the moment when Dante first saw when the UFO.

The letter, written by Patricia Trenner, Senior Editor of Air & Space/Smithsonian recognized Dante's "unwavering dedication to the advancement of space exploration" and named Dante as a "local legend and UFO pioneer."

 Last summer, at the debut of the summer concert series, which coincided with the day of Dante's funeral, a plywood statue of Dante in his UFO suit was unveiled. Billy Michael played “Spirit in the Sky” 13 times. “I promised him I would play Spirit in the Sky 13 times at his funeral, and he said, 'I can't wait.'

"Everyone came back from the funeral and we sent a sky lantern, like a miniature hot air balloon, up into the sky,” Billy Michael said, remembering the day. “They are sometimes mistaken for a UFO.”