The kick-off event for the West Virginia Italian Heritage Festival was held Saturday evening at Village Square in Clarksburg. The festival’s annual spring gala to honor its new Regina Maria and her royal court, serves as a preview of what’s to come during the main festival on Labor Day weekend.

This year marks the 45th anniversary of the acclaimed festival, appropriately themed “Come Home to Calabria,” after the region in southwest Italy. Chairman of the festival, Bill Boyles, detailed what’s at the heart of the beloved festival.