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PEEKSKILL, N.Y. -- The Festa Italiana street festival will return to Brown Street from Aug 10 through Aug. 12.
The event is held as part of the Catholic Church's Feast of the Assumption, when Catholics commemorate Mary taken to heaven, body and soul. Peekskill's Church of the Assumption plays a large part in the event, which will be celebrating its third year.
Organizer Frank Cimino said all the things that made the event great in the two previous years will be back this August: Food vendors, games of chance, rides and plenty of live music.
"Every year we've been building on the last," Cimino said. "We should be getting about 30,000 people this year if the weather holds up."
The event will begin Aug. 10 with an opening ceremony honoring an honorary Peekskill Italian and attended by city and county officials and even members of the Italian consulate.
There will be live music throughout the weekend including Doug Ferony and Daisy Joplin as well as the Carrozza Brothers, Westchester's favorite Italian wedding band.
"We try to make it family-friendly fun," Cimino said
On Aug. 12, there will be a procession from the Church of The Assumption. The Festa Italiana will also be holding a $20 50/50 raffle with proceeds going toward the church's Assumption School.
Cimino said that Festa Italiana, like the Jazz and Blues festival, helped attract people to the downtown who might not normally visit due to negative perceptions of the city.
"Hopefully, it convinces people that their perception of Peekskill is wrong," Cimino said.
A full lineup of events can be found on the Peekskill Festival website. Parking for the event is free and a portion of Brown Street will be closed and monitored by city police.
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