Tontitown Ready For Its Close-Up

TONTITOWN — The history and tradition of the Tontitown Grape Festival could reach a whole new audience this year, if a series titled “Celebrating Festivals” makes it to television.

The idea is the brainchild of Adam Salazar, a Lubbock, Texas, filmmaker. The series will be hosted by Janine Young, who says it’s an exciting opportunity.

Communities get to “exhibit their culture,” she says, while also letting viewers go behind the scenes to meet the people and learn the history of events like the UFO Festival in Roswell, N.M., the Cotton District Arts Festival in Starkville, Miss., and the grape festival.

The festival celebrates the grape harvest but also the history of the community founded in 1898 by Italian immigrants led by Catholic priest Father Pietro Bandini.

“Hosting ‘Celebrating Festivals’ allows me to pay tribute to the manyvolunteers behind the scenes and pageantry of these American traditions,” Young says. “It’s exactly the sort of story you’d expect to see on a travel network, but we’ve got to market (the show) and get it picked up.”

Salazar’s LEAF Productions will be shooting footage of the festival and surrounding Northwest Arkansas communities Aug. 6-8. But the 112th Tontitown Grape Festival starts Tuesday with carnival rides and live entertainment. The traditional spaghetti dinners begin Wednesday.