Bloomfield's Little Italy Days returns
Little Italy Days is making its return to Bloomfield.
Known as the region’s largest heritage festival, it will take place this year from Aug. 19 through Aug. 22
Bloomfield native Sal Richetti is the planner of this year’s event. “I’m happy to be back,” he said. “This past year’s been hard on businesses. I’ve gotten calls from business owners asking if we’d be back on this year — they need this festival. The revenue pays for their payroll, taxes, inventory, labor.”
The event is usually held in August. Last year, as the pandemic took hold, the event was first postponed until October 2020. Richetti then decided to cancel the October date because covid-19 cases were still rising.
Richetti said he plans to bring back what the festival is known for, from the musical guests, including the Granati Brothers, to the ethnic foods and bocce tournaments.
“We’re moving forward to making plans — we’ve all got the shot in our arms, now the businesses need theirs,” said Richetti.
Richetti said that they will be following the state guidelines.
“By August 19th we don’t know what the guidelines will be like, if they say no masks, then no masks, if they say wear a mask then we’ll do that — I trust the public to make their own decisions,” he said.
Richetti anticipates the return to a sense of normalcy in the neighborhood as Little Italy Days celebrates 19 years.
“Everyone will be Italian that weekend,” Richetti said.
Zachary Gibson is a Tribune-Review digital producer. You can contact Zachary at zgibson@triblive.com.
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