One Italian festival is returning to the Alle-Kiski Valley, while another has been canceled, possibly for good. The 41st annual Festa Italiana will be held Friday and Saturday at Mount St. Peter Roman Catholic Church in New Kensington. The festa, not held since 2019, was replaced by drive-thru lasagna dinners in 2020 and 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Festa Italiana di Vandergrift, traditionally held in August, has not been staged since 2019 because of the pandemic and has been canceled indefinitely, borough Councilwoman Marilee Kessler said. In announcing they would no longer be producing the event, the Vandergrift committee said its small group of members “has become old and tired and cannot continue to perform the large amount of work needed to properly execute the Festa.”