Four metal posts jut out of the empty stone pedestal where a 9-foot-tall statue of Christopher Columbus once looked over Arrigo Park in Chicago's Little Italy neighborhood. A chain-link fence encircles the spot where city officials yanked the statue off that pedestal in the middle of the night after protests and vandalism in July.

It's still an open wound to Ron Onesti, the charismatic president and CEO of The Onesti Entertainment Corp. and the historic Arcada Theatre in St. Charles. Onesti, 58, is one of the leaders of an Italian-American celebration scheduled at the park at 10 a.m. Monday in the absence of the annual Columbus Day parade, which was canceled because of the pandemic.