Check out the Festa Italiana photo album. Rachel and I had a great time at Festa this year. Bit pricey to ge in but still a good time. Our main mission when we entered was to locate and eat food. We got some mastacolli and some lambrusco. Next we checked out the opera tent that had great memorabellia from opera in the US. Next mission: dessert. Rachel had a canoli and I had chicken wings (not dessert but good). We wandered over to the tent where they have an amazing collection of historical photos. All the photos were taken in Milwaukee and they spanned home life, weddings, work places, relegious, and army photos of Italians. These photos range back to 1886.
Next we watched a marching band from Sicily. They were impressive to listen to. I guess the band started many many years ago and specialized in a certain type of march indiginous to the area. At some point the band was no more. In the late 1990s the band director started a school back up and he guided the next generation of musicians from the area. They started off with both the US and Italian national anthems. Next was the theme from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. It was a powerfull performance and I full well expected Clint Eastwood to pull up on a horse.
We wondered off to see the 50ft Virgin Mary when we were persuaded to get massages. It was only a couple bucks a piece so what the heck. The guys were very good at what they did. After wakeboarding and running on almost a daily basis a massage was what the doctor ordered.
Finally the fireworks were so close they made you blink when they went off. Not because of the bright light, because you could feel the concussion of the actual explosion! There were some newer fireworks that wowed the crowd, and it was top notch as you come to expect from the Bartolotta family.