Local News

Italian-American Days

Mon, 12 May 2014 10:04:27 CDT
The Italian Club of Benld will hold its 61st Annual Italian-American Days Festival on May 23-26 in the Benld City Park.

The weekend begins with the park opening at 4:00pm on Friday, May 23rd. Swyear Amusements will offer carnival armbands from 6:00 until 10:00pm. Hicktown will provide music from 7:30 until 11:30pm.

On Saturday, May 24th the Education Station pre-school will sponsor its 4th annual Preschool 5K/10K at the Benld City Ball Field. Registration begins at 7:00am. The park will open at 4:00pm and carnival rides will be $1.00 each. Agent 99 will provide musical entertainment from 7:30 until 11:30pm.

Sunday, May 25th is the highlight of the weekend with one ton of free spaghetti served between 11:00am and 1:30pm. Musical entertainment will be provided by the Bagna Caulda Combo from 11:00am until 2:00pm. Avery Hill will follow from 3:00 until 7:00pm. Following Avery Hill, the Smash band will provide music from 7:30 until 11:30pm.. Also, the Bocce Ball Tournament will be played on Sunday starting at 1:00pm. Registration begins at noon in the beer tent.

Monday, May 26th is the last day of the event with the park opening at noon and closing at 5:00pm.

Italian specialties including tortellini soup, homemade Italian salami, meatball sandwiches, bagna caulda and spumoni ice cream will be sold along with various Italian novelty items including the annual festival shirts.