SCRANTON, Pa. — La Festa Italiana in downtown Scranton is winding down after a busy weekend.
Picciocchi's Pasta from Clarks Summit is the new kid on the block at this year's La Festa and at times their line rounded it.
"It's really good to be out and be part of the festival, you know? everybody wants to be Italian!" Kristy Picciocchi said.
The return of the Italian festival after last year's cancellation was a saving grace for local family restaurants like Picciocchi's.
"This year has been something else. It's been really tough, I don't even know. The staff that I have has been amazing, the people that did come to work showed up and worked hard. What we do is very hard."
The same could be said for the shops that have shown up here for years.
"We're coming up on 30, doing this down here, and this is by far the best on we ever had down here. It's like a house on fire! Everybody's working hard. Luckily, I had a great crew," said Jason Sabatelle from Sabatelle's Restaurant.
Organizers of La Festa Italiana say this might be their busiest year yet. The weather certainly played a factor, but they say it's also as simple as, "you don't know what you've got until it's gone."
"Last night, so many people came up to me with tears. They were choking up, and they're making me choke up, saying, 'Gosh, we missed this,'" said organizer Chris DiMattio.
There was as much celebration as there was hard work, and after this Labor day Tradition wraps up for another year it's back to it.
"Go back to work," Picciocchi added. "Tomorrow's another day, friends!"