THE LITTLE ITALY FESTIVAL

Clinton, Indiana, hosts the annual Little Italy Festival, a four-day Labor Day Weekend celebration of the area’s Italian and coal mining heritage. Begun in 1966, the event has drawn over 250,000 visitors annually at its height, featuring Italian and carnival-style food, a grapevine-roofed wine garden, and grape stomping. The festival offers free stage entertainment, a flea market, and the largest Italian-themed parade in the Midwest. The festival hosts the Indiana Bocce Ball championship, boasts one of the few coal mining museums in the nation, and owns one of fewer than 400 genuine gondolas in the United States.