MORE than 3000 people attended La Festa on Saturday; La Fiera's iconic food and wine event, with Myrtleford's main street cram-packed with stalls featuring food from almost every Italian region, local winemakers showcasing their favourites and iconic sweet treats made the air smell scrumptious.
The Children's Hub in Jubilee Park was a hit, featuring magician-comedian Luigi Zucchini, the Bubble Man, face painting and a free photo booth stocked with colourful props to create the zaniest pictures.
"It’s a glorious day to celebrate our 17th year of La Fiera," festival spokesperson, John Costenaro said.
“We’ve got a full-house of stalls yet again and there’s a lot of first-time visitors, which is very refreshing to see.
“We want to pass on a huge thanks to our volunteers; from this morning’s set up, to manning the stalls and I've even met with people from neighbouring towns who are volunteering this year, that’s something new.
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"La Fiera wouldn’t be such a successful event without our volunteers."
Finding a place to stay over the weekend was a challenge, as surrounding towns also received bookings to cater to the festive feat.
“We managed to find a place in Bright to stay at 10pm last night,” Warren Abbotto from Melton said.
“We started driving here at 6am this morning and here we are."
Felicity Abbotto said she wanted to take La Fiera back to Melton with them.
“Either that or start a festival like this ourselves," she said.
“I love it, it’s a really beautiful festival and the air smells amazing; I want to buy everything from the food and wine stalls."
Myrtleford's local Italian 'circoli' - groups with ties to communities from the region of Trentino and the provinces of Vicenza and Treviso - had been preparing food for days ahead of the festival.
“We started making polenta from 10 o’clock this morning," Vicentini di Myrtleford president, Paul Rizzato said.
“Our 'Spezzatino' meat stew and 'Funghi' mushroom dishes which we add to the polenta were cooked yesterday.
"The Crostoli were started at 8:30am on Wednesday and we finished them at 4pm.
“I think we’ll be able to sell everything out as it's been a very good day for us.”
Stallholder, James Mele from The Meat Room, said La Fiera is great for bringing people to the area.
“This is our fifth year having a stall at La Festa and it's been wonderful," he said.
“The festival has improved every year and there's been a great crowd today.
“We’ve had great support from attendees, both locals and visitors, as well as from the committee and organisers who make it happen.
“We want to give a big thanks to the region for having and supporting us.
“We’ll be back again next year; we’re very happy to be a part of celebrating our traditions."
