Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Just a week before the landmark 50th anniversary of the Buffalo Italian Heritage Festival, the city honored the timely tradition in North Buffalo by unveiling a new trailblazing sign designating Hertel Avenue as "Italian Festival Way".
"What started 50 years ago on Connecticut Street has grown into one of the largest and most beloved Italian festivals in the country," said Mike Sciortino brand ambassador for Galbani cheese and also known as "Chef Marco". "We're here today to celebrate this incredible journey, those roots and the people who have kept it alive, thriving generation-after-generation. The festival was started by the late, great Edward Porto, and today we're honored to be joined by his daughter Judy Porto-Fiorella, who now serves as festival president and continues the family legacy."
Porto-Fiorella says the founding group for the Italian Festival, which included her father, was driven by a passion that helped shape the very roots of this festival.
"What began as a small neighborhood gathering has grown into one of the largest cultural celebrations in Western New York," an emotional Porto-Fiorella said Friday. "Today we honor that legacy with the official dedication of this street as Italian Festival Way, a lasting symbol of the pride, unity and tradition that continues to define our community."
Vice president of the festival board Peter LoJacono says the Buffalo Italian Heritage Festival has been about honoring our heritage, faith, family and customs that ancestors carried with them from Italy and passed down through generations in Western New York.
"One of the most beautiful expressions of that heritage is our annual St. Anthony Procession to our patron saint, which will take place this year Friday evening at 6 p.m. starting at Lovering [Avenue]. We'll proceed down Hertel Avenue Westward to the Pellicano's Marketplace main stage," said LoJacono on Friday. "With the music and the community gathered in prayer and celebration, it's a powerful reminder of the deep faith that has always been at the heart of the Italian American life."
Buffalo's Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon says this new trailblazing sign is more than just a marker to honor one of the most popular cultural events every year in the city.
"It is a tribute to five decades of tradition, community and heritage that have helped shaped Buffalo's identity and spirit," said Mayor Scanlon. "From humble beginnings in Buffalo's historic Italian neighborhood to the thriving celebration that we see today on Hertel Avenue, this festival has always been about family, culture, music, food, and not just celebrating it, but sharing it with others."
Scanlon adds this sign along Hertel Avenue is also about honoring the city's rich Italian community, and everything it has done for Buffalo.
"It has contributed so greatly to the fabric of Buffalo, whether it's building successful businesses, raising tremendous families or enriching our neighborhoods with that culture and civic pride. This honor designates and celebrates that legacy," he said. "That for five decades, the Buffalo Italian Heritage Festival has united our city, and this new street sign will serve as a permanent symbol of that legacy and a point of pride and community not just during the festival, but all year long."
"This is more than a festival. It's a homecoming. A time to gather, to celebrate and reflect on the rich heritage that has shaped our city," Porto-Fiorella added. "And with that, I will use one of Chef Marco's wordings: 'Come to our table and enjoy with all of us.'"
The festival gets underway next Friday on Hertel Avenue between Delaware Avenue and Lovering Avenue. The festival runs Friday from Sunday with gates opening all three days at 11 a.m.