Annual Butler Italian Festival Canceled.

For the past six years, the highly popular and well attended attraction—which drew thousands of spectators from Butler County and surrounding communities to Main Street, downtown—became a yearly showcase of everything Roman…morphing the City’s primary retail corridor into a green, red and garlic tainted “piazza prima”…and giving residents of all denominations an al fresco taste of Italian cuisine and lifestyle.

This year, though, organizers were informed just six weeks out from the event’s scheduled date, August 23-25, that City officials wanted to change its originally agreed upon set-up and move-in times for vendors.

Citing push back and complaints from Main Street businesses/retailers—who claimed they were burdened by the street’s closure for three days—new regulations would have limited a majority of the set-up to a 3-hour window only before the festival’s 5 p.m. opening Friday.

With nearly 100 street vendors involved, organizers explained such a demand would create overwhelming potential for a logistical nightmare. The decision to end the festival came after a series of back and forth communications brought no resolution.

“It’s just not enough time,” explained Rocco Lamanna, of County Festivals. Even if things happened flawlessly, it would not provide us with sufficient prep time to kick off the event Friday night in the manner we demand.

“Since 2019, our permit and agreement with the City, which they drafted and framed, always allowed for the positioning of our larger vendors to begin after 5 p.m. the night before the event started. We’ve been doing this work for a long time…a festival of this magnitude requires ample cushion to account for necessary contingencies, unexpected vendor difficulties, or staging challenges that routinely ‘pop up’ when dealing with this many suppliers.”

According to city officials, business owners weren’t happy with parking on Main Street and their storefronts being obstructed for such an extended period. Officials also claimed that other Main Street events happening throughout the year are given similar set-up restrictions and are able to easily comply.

Lamanna says that comparison is a bit flawed. “We’re unaware of any other festival on Main Street that happens over as many days as ours and involves as many vendors or draws anywhere near the amount of people to the area. Our admission has always been free and, with the exception of one garage, the city waives all downtown parking fees, so it’s quite an attractive option for residents that weekend. We were never informed or aware of widespread business dissatisfaction until now.”

In just six years, the festival had become one of the city’s most anticipated events. It had also received the Butler Eagle newspaper’s “Readers Choice” silver award, each year it was held.

“It’s unfortunate,” says Lamanna. “We created a successful community event that everyone enjoyed, met a lot of interesting and appreciative people who were grateful that we brought the festival to the region. We also forged quite a few new and very welcoming friendships. We wish the area and its residents nothing but the best going forward and thank everyone in the area—spectator and official—for their cooperation and support during our time there.”