Food, music and fun comes with 27th annual festival

It’s a festival frenzy of Italian food, music and fun at The Eldorado Great Italian Festival, Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 11 & 12. The 27th annual festival features the sights, sounds and tastes of Italy all day from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Virginia Street in front of the Eldorado Hotel Casino.

Festival highlights include free live Italian entertainment on three stages, a spaghetti sauce cook-off, traditional Italian fare, the famous grape stomping contest, bocce ball tournament, kids' gelato eating contest, a gourmet Italian buffet inside the Eldorado at 4 p.m. each day. Don’t miss the last big farmer’s market of the season as well as the Garlic Growers Association of Gilroy and the Castroville Artichoke Growers.

Festival-goers should get there early for the $1 pasta bowls at 2 p.m. each day and to enter the drawing for a free trip to Italy that will be given away at 3 p.m. on Sunday inside the Eldorado at the Casino Cabaret.

Live bands will be performing on the 3rd & 4th Street stages and in the Eldorado Casino Cabaret. Festival goers can enjoy Italian tunes from The Gaylords, Those Darn Accordions, Moreno Fruzzetti, Ray Massa’s Eurorhythms, Dean Regan & The Triple Crown Trio, Tom Serafini of Expresso 5, Bella Ciao, The Steve Balich Polka Band, The Italian Duo and Gene Ferrari.

The Scintas will be performing in the Eldorado Showroom on Saturday, Oct. 11 at 7 and 9:30 p.m. Tickets for the show start at $19.95.

For details, call the Eldorado at 1-800-648-5966 or 775-786-5700 in Nevada. Visit the Eldorado online at eldoradoreno.com.