Organizers of Baton Rouge's Columbus Day Festa are ready for the big time. The Greater Baton Rouge American Italian Association is making an effort to push the annual event celebrating its Italian heritage into a regional focus, and that starts this year with a performance by Deana Martin.

"(We) want to see this become a larger, regional event, beyond just Baton Rouge, and trying to bring in obviously more Italian American families, but other people, too, in to experience Italian culture," said the association's vice president Bill Bryan.

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Source: http://www.nola.com