Hoedown on Huling – Memphis Flyer

The show must go on. Memphis Italian Festival took place this year, but it was scaled down and it wasn’t open to the public.

It was held without the live music, throngs of people, and several days and nights of partying.

But, hey. You still had bocce ball games and, most importantly, that heavenly smell of spaghetti gravy wafting through the air.

27 teams participated in this year’s festival, which was held June 5th in front of Holy Rosary school instead of sprawling Marquette Park. It was a throwback to the first festival, held in 1990. Sixteen teams took place that year, which, I believe, I judged. We had to taste all 16 entries. This year’s duties were divided up between many judges, and judging was done on site.

Vickie Ranson, who along with her husband, Richard, are the cooking team chairs, wore her T-shirt from that first festival. It read, “Holy Rosary Italian Spaghetti Festival.”

Richard wore this year’s T-shirt. His read, “Holy Rosary Presents Italian Spaghetti Festival 2021.”

The T-shirts by Vickie and Richard Ranson span the years of Italian Fest.

Mama Biondini’s came in first place this year, followed by Pazzo! and The Spicoli’s.

Noodleheads, which has participated in every festival since it began, took fourth place.

And we all can look forward to Italian Fest, hopefully, returning in all its glory in 2022.

“Next year, barring any tragedy or COVID-type event, we will be in Marquette and wide open,” Richard says.

Italian Fest spaghetti gravy teams pay homage to their Italian heritage.

HOEDOWN ON HULING RETURNS

Tiffany Harmon performs at Hoedown on Huling Photos by Michael Donahue

I covered my first festival since 2019 on May 29th. It was Hoedown on Huling, a street party held on Huling Avenue between South Main Street and South Front Street.

It felt good to just read the Facebook post by Zach Stark, one of the hosts: “The annual Hoedown on Huling is back y’all if you’re lookin’ for a rootin’ tootin’ hell of a time then come on down! We plan to grill the Memorial Day classics — burgers and hot dogs — as well as provide a couple of kegs and spirits. We will also have some live music.”

Phil Sims and Victor Sawyer were at Hoedown on Huling

And, he posted, “Overall, we’re just looking to have a good ole fashioned summer kickoff block party.”

Hoedown on Huling hosts included Patrick Bolton, Chris Cordova, JoBeth Graves, Aaron Krunsyinsky, Zach Stark, and Robbie Britt. Josue Butler, third from left, wasn’t a host but is resident of The Paperworks.

“I think the first year they did it was ’16 or ’17,” Stark says. “This is the first year I was a host ‘cause I wasn’t living down there until this year. But they just started having an annual, basically, Paperworks building party.”

And, he says, “It just started out as a little neighborhood party and got bigger. It was not on last year.”