The City of McAlester hosted the 53rd annual Italian Festival at the Southeast Expo Center last weekend. The event, held since 1971, celebrates the heritage of Italian immigrants who settled in southeastern Oklahoma during its coal-mining era in the 1870s.

The Festival featured everything from car shows to carnival rides and contests, as well as the crowning of Re and Regina: Larry and Diana Taylor. “It’s an honor for our whole family and community, but for Italians and Sicilians around here too, so it’s just a real big honor to our family and our heritage,” Larry Taylor said after being crowned as Re on Saturday.