The Eldorado Great Italian Festival is back for the 38th year.

"Thirty-eight years and we've grown from a small parking lot of the casino to the entire Downtown area of Reno," said Tony Marini with THE ROW. "The event has grown; it's getting bigger, it's getting better and there's a lot of fun for everyone."

Chefs spent countless hours preparing the food.

"All the pasta is homemade," said Executive Chef Ivano Centemeri. "We start with the pasta for the competition, 800 to 900 pounds, we have another 800 pounds of spaghetti and then 1,200 pounds of our mushroom ravioli, of course our staple dish. Then tortellini, meat ravioli, 100 pans of lasagna - so 1,200 portions - fresh cannoli, fresh tiramisu, we can go on and on."

For two days, Downtown Reno turns into Little Italy.

"I would love people to have the feeling that they've been in Italy for a couple of days," Centemeri said. "The feeling of the feast, of getting everyone together and sharing items from chicken parmesan to mushroom ravioli to flatbread, it's a good feeling to share items and just have fun, a glass of wine and a couple bites of ravioli and you're fine!"

There are some traditions that have been here since the beginning - like the festival sauce competition.

"It's local families and some from out of town that have been coming for years and years and years," Marini said. "My mom has cooked in all 38 of these, so it's a family tradition at our house, a lot of other houses in town. This is the one time we all cook together; it's a part of family, it's a part of tradition.

The grape stomp is always a big draw as well.

"That's been going since year one," Marini said. "Whoever has the most juice in that vat when they're done is the winner. We love this event; it's a staple - get grape thrown all over you, its a blast!"

The celebration runs Saturday and Sunday.

More information:  https://www.eldoradoreno.com/event/events/eldorado-great-italian-festival

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