The Columbus Park neighborhood was once Kenosha’s Little Italy. “It was all Italians that lived in this neighborhood,” Kenosha native Tom Rizzo said. “I could probably go down each one of these homes and tell you which family lived in it.” Rizzo is the longtime chairman of the Mount Carmel Festival, celebrating its 75^th Diamond Jubilee this weekend at Columbus Park.

The three-day festival kicked off on Friday. It is famous for its old-fashioned, homemade spaghetti dinners, fried dough and fresh-baked Italian cookies. “They have the best pizza here. The best Italian sausage here. And even the eggrolls are to die for and they’re not even Italian,” Kenosha native Rocco LaMacchia said.