It’s a staple in the City of Good Neighbors - a great time where we celebrate our Italian communities at the annual Italian Heritage Festival over on Hertel. There’s something for everyone - from stacking cheese to stomping grapes - and all the pasta you can shake a chef’s kiss at. It all kicks off at 11 a.m., but the planning and execution have been in the works since the last time everyone made their way down to celebrate friends and family in north Buffalo.

“If you’re Italian, you know, family is a big thing – you eat together, you party together, and when you come down here, that’s exactly what you are going to do. But then we are going to bring you in and do a few extras – we’ve got grape stomping, the Galbani cheese building contest going on. Things that will just bring everybody together because that’s just what Italians to do,” Judy Porto-Fiorella, president of Italian Heritage Festivals, said.