Las Vegas Weekly

October 22, 2009 · 8:08 AM

Photo Gallery: The M Resort hosts inaugural Italian festival

By Robin Leach

The Italian Festival at The M Resort.

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

It was part of hotel tycoon Anthony Marnell III’s family tradition. Each year, they celebrated their Italian heritage and history with a backyard summer Italian feast.

But when you build a beautiful resort spa casino, you can turn it into one grand festival, and that’s exactly what Anthony did at his M Resort property for two days.

Our contributing photographer Tom Donoghue captured everything from the grape stomping to the bocce ball tournaments to the spaghetti-eating contest.

Our good friend Louis Prima Jr. provided the main entertainment concert, while roving jugglers, magicians and stilt-walkers entertained guests in the festival area. There were colorful balloons and face painting for kids, and of course there were incredible food displays throughout the festival.

“It was great to continue our Italian festival tradition and add a few twists. Everybody was Italiano for the weekend,” Anthony said.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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