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Downtown Youngstown Italian fest returns friday
The festival grounds will be slightly larger this year.
YOUNGSTOWN — The Greater Youngstown Italian Festival moved back downtown last summer, and is learning from the experience. The three-day festival returns Friday.
More food vendors — including four well-known Mahoning Valley restaurants — have been added to the event this year, said John Rossetti, president of the Italian Heritage Foundation of Youngstown, which puts on the festival. Antone’s, Franco’s, Leo’s Ristorante and Rosetta Stone Cafe are new to the food vendor list.
The festival is held along Federal Street, from Phelps Street to just east of Champion Street, and Wick Avenue between Boardman and Commerce streets. Those sections of the streets will be closed to vehicular traffic for the duration of the festival.
Hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. each day. “Just like last year, we’re going to be open for the downtown lunch crowd on Friday,” said Rossetti. “That was real popular.”
Another change this year is that beer and wine can be consumed all over the festival grounds. Last year’s liquor license confined alcohol consumption to one large tent, said Rossetti. There will be two alcohol vending stations this year, one on either end of the festival.
The Greater Youngstown Italian Festival moved to the Canfield Fairgrounds more than 10 years ago, but returned to downtown last year.
“Any time you move, you run into bumps, and we’ve learned from last year,” said Rossetti. “We’re making the festival better.”
The coffee caf will have a bistro atmosphere with small tables and chairs and a complete menu of Italian pastries and cookies, including cannoli and biscotti. “We’re bringing in more of the Italian traditions,” said Rossetti.
The boccie tournament will be moved to the large concrete plaza next to the First National Bank building, said Rossetti. It was held behind the Realty Building last year, but renovation of the structure forced the move.
Other festival mainstays, like the morra tournament and wine-making contest, will also return.
The festival grounds will expand a little this year, with the eastern boundary pushing a little beyond Champion Street so that more amusement rides and games can be accommodated.
In the event of rain, the festival will be covered. In addition to the 100-foot beer tent on the east end of the festival, a 120-foot entertainment tent — which can accommodate more than 500 people — will be erected on the west end. Entertainment is also scheduled for the beer tent.
To please the younger crowd that comes at night, some not-quite-so-Italian bands have been booked, said Rossetti, including Bustin’ Loose and Frankie and the Sensations.
The winners of the festival’s scholarship competition are Kelli Carney (the James and Coralie Centofanti scholarship); Dana O’Neill (the Anthony Lariccia Family scholarship); Joseph Michael Calcagni (the Don Pipino Scholarship) and Stephanie Carmella O’Leary (the Fernando Riccioni scholarship). Each scholarship is worth $1,000.