San Gennaro Feast brings Italy to Las Vegas
Listen to this articlePhoto above: Las Vegas, Nevada — Wikipedia
If you’re Italian at heart, you and your family won’t want to miss the San Gennaro Feast in Las Vegas because it is the biggest event since Sinatra came to town. It might be called an annual festival, but lucky us, they hold it twice a year because once is just not enough.
Held Sept. 9-14, 2014, it features mouth-drooling international food vendors, live music by national performers, amusement rides and games plus plenty of things for the kiddies like pony rides and a petting zoo. It all culminates at the end of the festival with a huge fireworks display.
The amazing entertainment lineup includes the Tony Sacca Show, the Ciro Georgio Italian Show, the reigning King of Las Vegas Frankie Moreno, Philly Cuzz, Jerry Tiffe, the Denise Clement Show, Shades of Sinatra, Bee Gees Gold, Goodfellas, Mark Govil and the Vegas Tenors, The Fab, Déjà Vu, Anne Martinez, Love Shack, MJ Live, Bella Strings, Thre3 Cards, DeBlanc Music, Musicology, the Las Vegas Young Entertainer, The Nite Kings, Genevieve, Aaron Caruso, Sam Riddle, Delly’s Future Stars, Colors in Motion and Zowie Bowie.
(San Gennaro website)
The feast will also be accompanied by the traditional cannoli and meatball eating contests so you might want to lay off the food a little in preparation. Even if you don’t win, it’s a great opportunity to load up on one of your favorite Italian dishes. Otherwise, you will have plenty to choose from whether it’s pasta, fried ravioli, eggplant parm, pizza, sausage and peppers or something delish from one of the other many offerings.
On Wednesday, Sept. 10 at 7 p.m., Father Cassaleggio will be leading the traditional Italian procession along with Mayor Carolyn Goodman and the color guard from the Knights of Columbus.
The carnival rides are some of your old favorites but include hard-to-find rides like the Fireball from Italy, which lifts you high off the ground and swings back and forth while you spin and will make you feel weightless. The Spinout from England is 45 feet tall and seems to spin you in all directions at once. There are only eight of these rides in the entire country so if you are an amusement ride junkie, you won’t want to miss this one. There will be plenty of rides for the kiddies too.
Tickets are $9 and $8 for senior and military. No one under 18 is allowed after 9 p.m., unless they are accompanied by a parent. The Feast is being held in Little Italy at 4245 S. Grand Canyon Dr., which is just off the 215 in Summerlin. Ride tickets can be purchased at the event. So, come to party, eat, enjoy the music and camaraderie.
I started to write because I developed laryngitis and needed to communicate or burst. It’s true. However, once I discovered the written word, I fell in love. I edited and wrote for my college newspaper and wrote articles for various journals after that. I am still working on the great American novel but I have yet to find the one among many starts I want to finish. Above all, I am fascinated with the world and the people in it. I have a dog who sincerely believes he should write instead of me but I steadfastly refuse to show him how to use the keyboard partly because of writer neurosis and partly because I hate his style.
