Festa Italiana returns to Downtown Bryan for its second year

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – Festa Italiana made its return to Downtown Bryan on Saturday along 24th Street bringing with it a little bit of Italy.

This was the events second year after it was a success the year before. The festival featured Italian food, a pasta eating contest, a bocce ball tournament, a concert, vendors and more. Organizer Blake Zeitman, who owns Zeitman’s Grocery Store, said the idea and desire to hold the event was so that they could display the Bryan-College Station area’s rich Sicilian heritage.

“Being able to bring that to the forefront and share that culture with everyone because its something that has been around for a long time,” Zeitman said. “I grew up with a lot of Italian festivals and wanted to kind of let Bryan-College Station have a little bit more of that.”

Putting everything together took a lot of blood, sweat and tears Zeitman said, but there was also a lot of joy and passion.

“We’ve had a really good time, and the community has come out and been really supportive,” Zeitman said. “Everybody is happy about the food. We’ve got vendors from all over the state. We’ve added more entertainment, we got extra bounce houses, we got water tents and activities, we’ve added a stage, we’ve added live entertainment. We’re very excited for all the additions and hope to make it even bigger and better next year.”

The festival was also a welcoming sight to some residents who have Italian roots, one in particular who actually moved from Italy to the area.

“I’ve been in the U.S. for two years and one of the problems I had was finding something that was actually Italian, and this one really is they have actually lasagna that is one of the best lasagnas I’ve ever had. It even tastes like the one my grandma used to do,” festival goer Beatrice Lomeo said. “I’m really happy that they’re celebrating Italians because usually not many people in Texas are Italian.”

Whether it was the food or meeting potential customers there was excitement all around.

“I really liked fresh baked pizza and lasagna so anything with those two I’ll be there,” festival goer Zoe Jamm said.

“I think just painting the little kids and just painting the little kids and seeing their faces when they look in the mirror,” Johanna Terraza with Hire an Artist said.

People even made the trip just to attend the festival. Criss Brown drove two hours from Dickinson with three of his fellow board members who work on Dickinson’s Little Italy Festival.

“Just the location, the trees, the music the entire atmosphere you couldn’t ask for more,” Brown said. A lot of people may not realize but Bryan accepted a lot of Sicilians as they immigrated in the late 1800′s. They settled in Bryan. The floods of the late 1890′s drove a lot of them to Dickinson, so that connection between Bryan and Dickinson. I’m hoping we can kind of join forces and help each other out and create a better festival each year for each of us.”

Messina Hof also hosted a Festa Italiana dining experience Friday night that featured a five-course meal as well as wine.

Zeitman said that planning for next year’s event will begin at 10 p.m. Saturday night.

KBTX’s Lauren Margolis, who hosts The Three, was this year’s Festa Italiana host and contest judge.