The Warren Italian-American Heritage Festival brings back former residents and attracts out-of-town guests every year.

One visitor isn’t welcome this year (or any year) — rain.

After heavy storms affected last year’s event, Corey Hovance, president of the festival’s board, referred to this weekend’s event as its “redemption year.”

“Being the perfectionist I am, it took a while to soak in that we did everything we could do about the weather last year,” he said. “We’re just looking forward to having a rain-free weekend during the festival this year to bring back all of those great memories and we’re looking forward to having a good time again.”

That opportunity is more important this year with the Greater Youngstown Italian Festival canceling its event (originally scheduled last weekend) due to disruptions downtown following the Realty Tower explosion in May. The Italian Festival planned later this month in nearby Butler, Pa., also was canceled. That follows the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic a few years earlier.

“One of the things I personally did was to reach out to the Greater Youngstown Italian Fest and offered for them to come to Warren for our festival and set up a booth,” Hovance said. “It’s very difficult to come back when you don’t have something for a year. Italian culture and heritage is strong in this area, and we want to help however we can. We do look forward to a larger crowd because of the cancellations. We are looking forward to having a big year.”

Hovance said he would like to see between 25,000 and 30,000 attendees between today and Sunday. Great weather and the potential to draw regular attendees to those other festivals could surpass those numbers.

New entertainment this year ranges from the rock band RDNA to The Sicilian Tenors.

RDNA, a Youngstown / Boardman band that recently performed at Progressive Field for one of the Cleveland Guardians’ fireworks nights, originally was scheduled to play last year’s festival but was rained out.

The Sicilian Tenors features Aaron Caruso, who has performed at the festival as a solo artist, joined by singers Sam Vitale and Elio Scaccio for a repertoire that ranges from arias to Italian folk songs to showtunes.

“We’re just overjoyed to have them this year,” Hovance said. “They sound absolutely amazing. They’re perfect for our Italian festival and bring a lot of that old Italian feel, and it’s going to echo across downtown.”

Italian culinary favorites like gnocchi, meatball sandwiches, pizza and Italian cookies and cannoli will be available, but the festival offers a wide range of menu items. Hovance said one of the festival’s oldest vendors is Guy Hughes’ Guy’s BBQ.

Meatball fans also can register for the festival’s meatball eating contest at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. It’s become one of the festival’s most popular attractions in only its fourth year.

“I got the idea sitting on the couch watching the (Nathan’s Famous) Hot Dog Eating Contest on the 4th of July,” Hovance said. “Wouldn’t it be fun to do an Italian thing like that? And nothing is more Italian than meatballs.”

Competitors have nicknames and one shows up every year with a title belt like a championship wrestler as the crowd cheers them on to see who can win a medal, a T-shirt and gift card for a local restaurant.

For Hovance, whose grandfather, Lou Metter, started the festival nearly 40 years ago, the event is a chance to reunite with family, both blood relations and his “festival” family.

“My family all comes to town for this,” he said. “And whenever I talk about the festival or give a speech, I always refer to it as a family. We spend a lot of time together. Like brothers and sisters, we might not agree on some things but at the end of the day, family is so important and to have this as my extended family, it’s just fun to sit around and see all the goals we accomplish throughout a year of planning in just four days.”

If you go …

WHAT: Warren Italian-American Heritage Festival

WHEN: 4 to 11 p.m. today and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday

WHERE: Courthouse Square, West Market Street and North Park Avenue, Warren

HOW MUCH: A $3 donation is requested for entry to the festival. For more information, go to warren

italianfestival.com.

Schedule

Thursday

4 p.m. — Ribbon cutting ceremony

5:45 to 11 p.m. — Bocce tournament

6 p.m. — Miss Italian and Junior Miss Italian Pageant (main stage)

6:30 to 11 p.m. — Butch Nichols (beer tent)

Friday

5:45 to 11 p.m. — Bocce tournament

6:30 to 8 p.m. — Nunzio and Melodies (main stage)

7 to 11 p.m. — DJ Tom Angelo (beer tent)

8:30 to 9:30 p.m. — The Sicilian Tenors (main stage)

Saturday

9 a.m. to 11 p.m. — Bocce tournament

1 p.m. — Wine tasting competition with registration starting at 11 a.m.

1 to 5 p.m. — Jim Frank Combo (beer tent)

1:30 p.m. — Meatball eating contest with registration starting at noon (main stage)

2 p.m. — Morra tournament

3 p.m. — Tiny King & Queen (main stage)

6:30 p.m. — Mirella the Musician (main stage)

7 to 11 p.m. — Guys Without Ties (beer tent)

8:30 p.m. — The Sicilian Tenors (main stage)

10:45 p.m. — Fireworks

Sunday

9 a.m. — Bocce tournament

9:40 a.m. — Procession of the Madonna (culture tent)

10 a.m. — Outdoor Italian Mass (main stage)

11:15 a.m. — Continental breakfast (beer tent)

1 to 5 p.m. — The Italian Cousins (beer tent)

2 p.m. — Parade

6 p.m. — Mirella the Musician (main stage)

7 to 11 p.m. — Rex Taneri Band (beer tent)

7:30 p.m. — RDNA (main stage)

Have an interesting story? Contact Andy Gray by email at agray@tribtoday.com. Follow us on X, formerly Twitter, @TribToday.