Niles will host the 119th Maria Santissima Lauretana festival, a traditional Italian cultural and religious celebration that also includes plenty of food, drink and entertainment, over Labor Day weekend. The festival, which honors the Catholic Virgin Mary, originated in a Sicilian town and was brought to the Chicago area as immigrants arrived here.

According to Angelo Camarda, chairman of the Maria Santissima Lauretana Society, Chicago has held the Lauretana festival every year since 1900 to celebrate the feast day of the Virgin Mary. Maria Santissima Lauretana is one of many titles for the Virgin Mary, and it is the title most often used among immigrants from Altavilla Milicia, a small town near Palermo, Sicily, and their descendants.