Brier Hill Italian Fest Event will include special tribute to Rocky Chirchiglia

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

There will be a special tribute to the late Rocky Chirchiglia at this year’s Brier Hill Italian Fest, which opens Thursday.

The well-known local band leader, who died in February, played Italian music at festivals throughout the region for decades. His band will perform at the tribute.

Chirchiglia’s band appeared in the locally made movie “Fine-Tune,” and never-seen-before footage of the film, made by Chris Rutushin of Youngstown, will be part of the tribute.

The Brier Hill Italian Fest is now in its 20th year.

Most Italian festivals in the area are located in a downtown area or on church grounds, but the Brier Hill Fest stands out because it takes place in a residential neighborhood.

For four days each summer, Brier Hill — a hillside neighborhood on the North Side — is reawakened to its lively and historic past. Brier Hill in its heyday was a bustling area brimming with Italian immigrants and their descendants.

True to its motto, the festival captures “the spirit of the old Italian neighborhood.”

Food vendors line the hilly brick streets at the corner of Victoria and Calvin, while the pavilion across from the ITAM club fills with chatter, music and morra.

The festival will open Thursday at 6 p.m. with a performance by the Trumbull Senior Production Company.

The opening ceremony will be at 7 p.m. Friday, which will include the Man of the Year Award.

A morra tournament will begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday on the deck across from the ITAM.

The hot pepper contest will begin at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, also on the deck, with winners announced at 7:30 p.m.

Live entertainment is scheduled for all four days.