Memphis Italian Festival

The Memphis Italian Fest has been offering a eclectic variety of vendors,cooking demos & entertainment since 1989. Leaving festival-goers with a wonderful experience Memphians & visitors alike will remember for a lifetime thatthey'll return next year for another wonderful experience. When it comes to Festivals in the Memphis area i've always enjoyed The Memphis Italian Festival compared to Music Fest & a variety of others which seem to offer very little or nothing in entertainment value. This is the one festival I look forward to every year as I enjoy the games vendors, food, family & fun every last weekend in May. Whenever I attend festivals such as the Memphis Italian Festival. I'm always going around to each vendor & see what each vendor offers. I'm always left amazed discovering a vendor that I've never heard about before. The vendors I discovered in years past I still shop with some of them or refer them by word of mouth like here on Yelp or social media outlets. What also impresses me being & is a highlight for me would be the cooking demos & every year they start out with last year's sauce winners who'll do a cooking demo of their favorite Italian dish. When the demonstration is over audience members get to sample what was cooked by the cooking team. When the cooking team is done they'll be a local restaurant ready to give the audience a demonstration of their dish. The chefs from the restaurant that are representing will show everyone how they cook their appetizers or entrees. After they've finished showing the audience on how they made their dish everyone gets to sample what was cooked & enjoy it. The biggest closer to a majority of Festivals would be the bands they've asked to perform for festival-goers. Every year Memphis Italian Fest will always have a big name band perform at the end of the night closing out the festival. This year's band happened to be Ingram Hill & I thoroughly enjoyed the show as they're my favorite band. Every year is hit or miss when it comes to the music acts but for the past 3 years I've enjoyed Gin blossom Train and of course Ingram Hill. That's just a small variety of what is offered &I would recommend to anyone looking for a simple inexpensive ($10-$15 admission) festival to attend. This would be the festival to enjoy with your family and friends. I have thoroughly enjoyed it every year regardless of what some yelpers on here had to say comparing it to other festivals in a unfair comparison. I would like to say in closing enjoy the festivities & make memories with others around you to remember for a lifetimeBe sure to like Memphis Italian Festival on FB and tell a friend.https://www.facebook.com/MemphisItalianFestival/

My new favorite festival! And not just because I got to judge aka eat delicious free food all day. This baby has A LOT going on and there is absolutely no way you can be bored. Between the music, dancing, vendors, contests, and FOOOOOOD, I wanted to spend the whole weekend here. Yeah, it might rain, but this is Memphis and it is May...so you kinda expect it...and deal with it. Plus, it gives you the chance to wear those cute rain boots you bought for 50% off that one time.If you haven't been, you're missing out so remedy it ASAP. Go ahead and put it on your calendar since it only happens ONCE A YEAR!!!!

This annual 3 day family friendly event celebrates all things Italian. There is, of course, lots of food and wine. Activities include live music, cornhole and bocce tournaments, wine races, grape stomping contests, cooking demonstrations, rides for kids, vendors, food trucks, etc Teams with booths and tents fill the park, and compete with one another in areas like home made wine, gravy (spaghetti sauce), Anything Italian, etc. If you know a team this event is much more fun, because then you can get invited into a booth to eat and party. However, every year I come not going anyone, and always manage to get invited in somewhere. Everyone is super friendly here!

This reminded me of the BBQ Festival (part of Memphis in May). You pretty much have to know someone to do/eat anything good. It's a lot of private tents and parties where only friends/family can go to eat and drink. There's a few food trucks for everyone else, but only 1 was selling Italian themed food. There's a few craft/vender booths to gander, but not too many. The festival was not worth the $10 admission in my opinion. If you know someone though, I'm sure it's a blast!

It looks like a great event. It SMELLS fantastic. But let's face it, the mud makes it much less.We did give it a run through during the rain, knowing it would be tough. Still great Nd inviting folks - but we could have done with less golf carts competing for the only path Around the park.

I can't believe nobody has reviewed this event yet! Great family event and later in the night a great party! Lots for the kids to do and the adults too. Usually good music at night and of course they have bocce ball going on till the park closes each night. This event is the week after Memphis in May is over. Lots of food trucks and of course if you know folks, lots of private tents. There is also a pretty large bunch of tents selling typical items for an event like this. This is a must do event for the local or tourist looking for something to do!

As festivals goes, this is one of the better ones. It has a great location surrounded by trees for plenty of shade during the sunny day. So many tents to gander at and enjoy. The smell of the air is sweet, the sauce of course is the culprit to that haha. There isn't a beat here that isn't on the upside. Bring a smile and taste the food if your craving it.

I love this event, but it is the MOST unorganized event I've ever been involved with! The BEST selling point for this event is the FREE SHUTTLE, but NO ONE advertises it! It's not even listed on the MIF website and no one at the church or the Hilton had ANY idea of the shuttle schedule, which is critical for people planning! I've been planning citywide events for over 25 years and this is the most unorganized event I've ever experienced - lack of advance notice to vendors, lack of communication w/ vendors, lack of organization w/ booth layout, lack of advertising/updated info, NO info on the shuttle - which could be a HUGE selling point!What a shame... this could be such a better experience for everyone with a little more organization.