Enjoy a variety of homemade soups while experiencing a flashback to the Roaring ’20s during “Capone’s Soup Kitchen” from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Saturday at the Eliot Ness Museum, located in the former Halloran’s Hardware store at Main and Second Streets in Coudersport.
“Character actors from the popular Eliot Ness Fest will be hamming it up for those who stop by the Eliot Ness Museum,” noted a press release about the event. “At the same time, they’ll be serving up soup and bread in a re-creation of the soup kitchens that gangster Al Capone opened for the poor in Chicago during the Great Depression.”
During the feast, actors will be portraying various heroes and villians from the 1920s, including Eliot Ness himself, a former Coudersport resident well-known for his efforts to bring down Al Capone and his leadership with Chicago law enforcement team “The Untouchables.”
Jared Empson will portray ness, while Kori Ditty will portray Capone’s faithful wife. Others making appearances will be gangster Bugs Moran (Zigmund Reichenbach) and his wife Evelyn (Healther Klimek), Capone rival Dean O’Banion (John Ditty) and his wife Viola (Lori Szymanik), federal undercover agent Mysterious Mike Malone (Ed Szymanik), gangster Frank Nitto (Bill Pekarski), “Untouchables” agent Lyle Chapman (Kevin Burrier), Madame Maisie O’Donnell (Ruth Sallade), and bookie Oscar Gutter (Terry Foster).
Donations collected during this event will go towards the Eliot Ness Fest, sponsored by the Potter County Historical Society. Soups will include chicken noodle soup, classic chili, gluten-free cheeseburger soup, Italian vegetable beef soup and meatless pasta fagioli.
There is no admission fee to enter the museum.
According to a press release, the museum features “classic cars and trucks, archival photographs and exhibits telling the story of Ness’s life and career, with a special emphasis on his activities in Chicago, Cleveland and Coudersport.”
Currently the hours of operation for the museum are irregular, but daily as possible from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Text 607-423-6902 to confirm the museum is open.
For more information, visit the Eliot Ness Museum Facebook page.
