Filling up on food favorites at La Festa Italiana in Scranton

Jim Lockwood, The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa.
·2 min read

Sep. 4—SCRANTON — Of all of the food offerings at La Festa Italiana, Zach Coles' first choice Saturday was a porketta sandwich from the UNICO National Scranton Chapter stand.

Coles, who grew up in the Peckville section of Blakely and now lives near Philadelphia, has been attending La Festa annually since childhood and the UNICO porketta has been a perennial favorite.

"I've been getting porketta every year. It's the first thing I get. It's killer, right?" Coles said. "When I used to live here, I'd get six of them. I'd take them back and eat them throughout the week."

This year, Coles brought a newbie to La Festa: his girlfriend, Taylor Gordon of Philadelphia, who also sampled her first UNICO porketta sandwich.

"He's been talking about it for weeks," Gordon said. Her review with her first bite: "Oh, it's good."

The annual Labor Day weekend celebration of Italian cuisine and culture held on Lackawanna County Courthouse Square kicked off Friday and continues Sunday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Monday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Admission is free.

While entertainment is another big favorite at the fun and family-friendly La Festa, the main draw clearly is the Italian food. There also are some other ethnic varieties, too.

UNICO expects to sell out of 4,300 pounds of porketta by the time La Festa finishes.

Festivalgoers also devour pasta, meatballs, sausage and peppers, calzone, gnocchi, lasagna, stromboli, rigatoni, ziti, calamari, tortellini, pasta fagioli, sfogliatelle, zeppoli, chicken parmigiana, meatball parm, eggplant parm and pizza fritta.

And pizza, of course. Lots of pizza. Round slices and tray cuts. Thin, thick and double crust. Red, white, plain and with toppings.

Butch and Joan Woomer of Nescopeck, who have been attending La Festa each year since 2007, enjoyed some fresh tomato and garlic pizza from Colarusso's.

"We come every year for it," Joan said.

Butch added, "We even make this at home now. We copy off of it. We put olive oil and then we put the garlic and then we put cheese and then the tomatoes."

And among the many sweet treats and Italian pastries, many visitors can't go without cannoli.

La Festa first-timer Joe Laub of Philadelphia, who visited Saturday with his brother-in-law, George Marsellas of Hanover Twp., got three chocolate cannoli to go from Carmella's.

"I got these for my wife, daughter and sister-in-law," Laub said.

Large crowds attended Friday and Saturday.

For a complete schedule and more information on La Festa Italiana, see its website, lafestaitaliana.org, or Facebook page.

emailto:Contact the writer: jlockwood@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5185; @jlockwoodTT on Twitter.