Ferdinand (Fred) DelGrosso
Ferdinand (Fred) DelGrosso
Year Inducted:
2025
Love and a Life of Hospitality
In 1936, Ferdinand walked into Mom’s Café and sat at the table of the owner’s daughter. The mother, Marianna, and her daughter, Mafalda, soon became central figures in his life. Ferdinand and Mafalda fell in love and were married in 1943.
Shortly after their marriage, they opened DelGrosso’s Café on 17th Street in Altoona, using Marianna’s original sauce recipe. The café quickly became the go-to spot for spaghetti, and many customers wanted to take the sauce home. To meet the demand, the DelGrossos began making, jarring, and selling the sauce—an opportunity Fred immediately recognized as the start of something bigger.
Founding a Family Park
In 1946, Fred sold the café and bought Bland’s Amusement Park. At the time of purchase, the park had a skating rink, a bowling alley, a picnic area, and a few rides. Under Fred’s guidance, the park expanded to include adult and kiddie rides, new concession stands, and new updated restrooms. As the park grew, so did the DelGrosso Food Company, which operated out of a production building on the park grounds.
Fred and Mafalda’s family grew – they had seven children (three daughters and four sons). Their children, along with their spouses, would go on to work in the park.
Annual upgrades and additions were made to the park. In the 1980’s a multimillion-dollar plan added new rides, an elaborate concession stand, and a gift shop. In the 1990’s, the park was further expanded and enhanced by the addition of Championship Miniature Golf and the Altoona-Tipton Speedway.
A Lasting Legacy
On November 1, 2000, the children of Fred and Mafalda renamed Bland’s Amusement Park to DelGrosso’s Amusement Park in honor of their late parents. The miniature golf and speedway were removed in 2015 to make way for the expansion of the water park. Now called Laguna Splash, the water park features an Italian theme, complete with a replica of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, tipping wine barrels, and more.
DelGrosso Food Company also continued to grow. In the late 1970s, DelGrosso Foods built a sauce production plant across from the amusement park. Since that time, the company has expanded numerous times, and DelGrosso Foods is now one of the largest private label and co-packers of pasta sauce in the United States.
DelGrosso’s Park & Laguna Splash now features over 30 rides and attractions and is still family-owned and operated.
All of this was made possible by the vision of Ferdinand DelGrosso and his wife, Mafalda.