Washington Italian Festival slated for this Saturday
Allegro Dance Company will perform Italian folk dances at 2:15 p.m. during the Washington Italian Festival on Saturday/
Josie Salvitti, a sixth-grader at Peters Township Middle School, will kick off the Washington Italian Festival at noon Saturday with the singing of the National Anthem.
The Washington Italian Festival will be held this Saturday from noon to 8 p.m. at the Community Pavilion, 139 S. Main St. in downtown Washington.
Guests can enjoy Italian music, learn about Italian culture, shop for merchandise, and enjoy Italian food and beverages from a number of vendors.
Vocalist Josie Salvitti, a sixth-grader at Peters Township Middle School, will kick off the festival at noon with the singing of the National Anthem, followed by Commissioner Larry Maggi who will recognize this year’s Italian Heritage honorees – descendants of immigrants from the town of Bellosguardo in the Campania region of southern Italy who have organized an annual reunion in Washington for the past 72 years.
At 1 p.m., Salvitti will perform a one-hour set of today’s hits, followed by Italian folk dances by Allegro Dance Company at 2:15 p.m., and singer and guitarist Damiano at 3 p.m. At 3:45 p.m., Nate Mass of the “Washington PA Food” Facebook group will host an Italian cooking competition for Best Pizzelle, featuring Rachel Angry vs. Crystalyn Jewell.
Entertainer Mirella the Musician, an Italian vocalist on piano and accordion, will perform at 5:15 p.m., and the Washington Jazz Orchestra will close out the festival with a 90-minute performance starting at 6:30 pm.
Face painting and balloon art, as well as storytelling, will be available for children from 12:30-4 p.m.
Representatives of the Italian Heritage Collection at Citizens Library will be on hand to invite descendants of Washington’s Italian immigrants to record their histories and to digitize historic photos and documents. Copies of “Remembering Their Lives: Stories of Italian Immigrants to Washington, Pennsylvania” will be available for sale.
A kick-off spaghetti dinner will be held on Friday from 5:30 to 8:30 pm at the pavilion, and from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Shades of Time will perform a free concert. Beer and wine will be sold.
For more information about the festival, sponsored by Primo Italiano Lodge #2800, Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, Sons and Daughters of Italy, visit www.primoitaliano.org/festival.