Thursday, June 26, our opening evening, was MARIA REGINA NIGHT!  The crowds began to gather under the great tent at 5:30 PM. The rides were in full swing, the food was hot and ready and excitement began to grow.  At 6:15, we were thrilled to enjoy our parish talent show: Maria Regina's Got Talent!  15 acts gave their all on the stage and we enjoyed every kind of talent from singers and dancers to comedians, piano and guiltar players.  The winners were:
FIRST PLACE:  Matthew Greene playing Billy Joel's Root Beer Rag on the piano and then singing Hallelujah!
SECOND PLACE:  Corinne Winter and Kimmy Purcell giving a joyful dance to Mmm Yeah!  Congratuations to all our contestants! The evening continued with great crowds, plenty of fun and DJ John Iovino spinning some favorite tunes.
Friday night was Country Night and we welcomed the Mary Lamont Band who not only shared their musical talent but also led us in Line Dancing and entertaining the kids.  There was plenty of delicious food including fried chicken platters and our famous zeppole.  The crowds remained under the great tent until the late hours.
Saturday brought Italian Night.  The evening began with the Festival Mass celebrated by Father Frank in the Church at 4:00.  We continued with a procession of the Blessed Mother from the Church to the Festival grounds led by some of our beautiful First Communion Children. We were entertained by Freddie Martin and the Martinis with traditional Italian and Sinatra type tunes.  Then at 6:30 we began the judging for the meatball cook-off.  In the end, 12 cooks submitted their best meatballs and the judges began to eat. After all the sampling was completed, the winner was crowned: Joyce Panetta- the cook of the best meatball in Maria Regina.  Actually, every meatball was great and we thank each of our cooks who took the time to prepare 100 meatballs.  By the end of the evening, 1,200 meatballs were sold out, along with 9 barrels of zeppole dough (a record for Maria Regina) and all the Sausage and Peppers we had prepared.  What a great evening!
Sunday brought us to Irish Night, the last night of our festival.  Besides the fantasic band, The Switch, we were thrilled by Irish Step Dancers and not one but two traditional Irish pipe & drum bands throughout the evening.  At 10:30, the festival came to a close with the drawing for the big raffle: a total of $9,500 in prizes were awarded.  A great Festival has come to an end... but there is always 2015!  Wait till you see what we have in store for next year!