Aug 30, 2009 3 min read

Crowds of people began gathering on Main Street for the Uniontown Italian Heritage Festival hours before the official start time and they kept coming as Saturday, the first of the two-day festival, went on. “It’s already become a sea of people,” said Terry Cellurale, chairman of the committee that spent the last six weeks organizing the festival, at 4:30 p.m., just an hour and a half after the opening ceremony.

People began showing up and buying food from vendors as early as 1 p.m., Cellurale said.

They also had the chance to watch as 450 cars began arriving for the car show, which started at 3 p.m.

The Cavaliers were the first performers to appear on the Storey Square stage. Stefano, a soloist from Italy, mandolin player Edigio Faiella and We Three provided the entertainment for the rest of the day.

A fireworks display from Bailey Park at 10 p.m. was a last-minute addition to the day’s activities.

Cellurale said committee members and volunteers decorated Main Street and Storey Square Friday night and vendors began setting up booths and tables early Saturday.

“Everything was as smooth as silk,” said Mayor Ed Fike, adding that decorating went on until midnight. “It’s remarkable, everything went like clockwork. Everybody was energized.”

Cellurale said many people told him that the festival reminded them of the festivals held generations ago.

“They want it like it used to be,” Cellurale said. “We wanted it to be special.”

“I think it’s one hell of an event,” said state Rep. Tim Mahoney, pausing as he strolled along and mingled.

Cooperation among many people and volunteers like Cellurale made the event possible, Mahoney said.

Fike commended the committee for working together to plan the festival in such a short amount of time.

“We all put our ideas together and we came up with the best,” Fike said.

“I’m so excited. There are so many people on the street. This is why we worked so hard,” said committee member Erica Miller.

“This is so beautiful,” Fike said. “I haven’t seen fellowship like this since the ’60s. They made me an honorary Italian.”

He and Cellurale said there were few minor glitches early in the day, but the committee will use what they learned this year when they plan next year’s festival.

Allowing vendors to open for business before the opening ceremony was one of the problems that occurred, Fike said.

“We’ll take our bumps and bruises this year. We’ll talk to some people to find out what they liked and find out what they didn’t like and go from there,” Cellurale said.

Today, the festival gets under way with an Italian Mass in Storey Square at 8 a.m.

Other activities include a Little Miss Italian Festival Pageant, a cooked-meatball contest, a spaghetti-eating contest and music throughout the day.