Get ready for the Italian festival
The first thing that comes to Michael Dongilli’s mind about the last weekend of August is the sound of Italian opera and the smell of sauce and cheese.
The Butler Italian Festival typically takes place at the end of August, and it will return to Main Street on Friday, Aug. 26, for the fifth iteration of the event.
Dongilli, who is an event manager of the festival, said he and the other organizers try to replicate an Italian experience at the street fair, and the performers, vendors and attendees are all part of that experience.
“If you are Italian, you just appreciate the celebration of the culture in various places,” Dongilli said. “What we try to do is make the experience and the music kind of the highlights... We keep it as much in the Italian culture and background that we can.”
The Butler Italian Festival kicks off at 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 26, on Main Street, and will feature about 80 vendors and musical performances throughout the weekend.
Dongilli said the main attraction of the festival differs from person to person, but he and the other organizers are looking forward to the stage performances this year. They include a seven-piece swing band in Doctor Zoot; the Earth, Wind and Fire tribute band Let's Groove Tonight; and the Granati Brothers, a rock group.
“We're really excited about the stage entertainment this year,” Dongilli said. “All these bands, maybe it's not all Italian all the time; there's Italian connections to everybody that is there.
“In between signature acts we sprinkle in guys, like opera singers.”
Rocco Lamanna, a producer of the Butler Italian Festival, also said that while the Butler Italian Festival is small in comparison to other cultural events in places like Pittsburgh, people still appreciate having an Italian celebration in Butler.
“We get a great crowd; the community seems to like us being there, and we like doing it,” Lamanna said. “They go for the food. It's free music. There is a kids' area, just a lot to do.”
Dongilli said attendance at the festival peaked in 2019, when around 25,000 people attended over the three days. The event skipped 2020 because of the coronavirus, but came back in 2021 with an attendance of around 15,000 people.
Hopes are high for this year’s event, Dongilli said.
“We've had such great support from people in the area,” he said. “Simply because of proximity, a majority of people are going to be from Butler County.
“My hope is that the turnout is going to be a lot better and people will stay longer too.”
Main Street will be closed from 2 until 10 p.m. Friday, from noon until 10 p.m. Saturday and from noon until 6 p.m. Sunday. Streets between Cunningham and Pearl will be closed each night, including WISR Way and Walnut, Locust, New Castle, Brady, North and Penn streets.
