I, Zeb the Duck, and Soapy Smith Duck went to Belmar in Lakewood, Colorado for the 11th annual Festival Italiano.

So many people. A popular festival

There was so much Italian stuff. This booth had art.

Villa Reale in Lucca, Italy by Emi Kanan

I really liked this painting of Villa Reale in Lucca, Italy by Emi Kanan.  There were two stages with live performances.   The Torino Stage featured Don D’Angelo with a tribute to Frank Sinatra.

Don D’Angelo singing Frank Sinatra songs

Don sang several songs made popular by Frank Sinatra.  We liked him!  At the other end of the street we found Milano Stage.

Rumble Seat group performing

The featured group was Rumble Seat.  They were excellent.  Mom liked the old songs and so did we ducks.

Walking through these balloons,

Balloons the colors of the Italian flag

we discovered the children’s area.   Our favorite there was the Children’s Grape Stomp.

Such fun!

Young humans, with clean feet, get in the area with grapes and stomp to juice the grapes.

Stomping grapes

When the young ones are finished, they wash their feet here.

Clean up station

This event is sponsored by Balistreri Vineyards,

Balistreri Vineyards sponsored this event

a local, family owned winery.

This display was great.  These are real people.

These people are alive

The people stayed here while the flag throwers from Florence, Italy performed.  This area was really crowded.  Like all festivals, there were many venders.  Lots of really good Italian food and gelato.  Mouth watering aromas were everywhere.  Also we browsed in the craft area.  We liked this pottery from Tesori Italian Pottery.

Tesori Italian Pottery available here.

We watched some of the Bocce tournament.

Our first Bocce tournament

You roll the Bocce, a 4 ½ inch ball weighing 3 pounds as close as possible to the pallino, a 1 ¾ inch ball which is rolled down the alley first.   The bocce closest to the pallino wins.

This chalk art was good.

We like chalk art

We watched some of it being created.  This was a great festival.  For more information visit http://www.balistrerivineyards.com