MILWAUKEE – First Lady Jill Biden helped kick off the 44th year of Festa Italiana with the opening remarks Friday in the longtime Italian cultural festival’s return to Henry Maier Festival Park. Festa has not been held at the Summerfest grounds since 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The First Lady was greeted by cheers from a standing-room crowd at the Aurora Pavilion, where she waved hello on the ground level before checking out a cannoli stand prior to her speech.
She’s early! @FLOTUS has arrived at Festa Italiana pic.twitter.com/uPnQLALmzr
— Wyatt Barmore-Pooley (@wyattbpvoice) May 31, 2024
Biden, who is the first Italian-American First Lady, told the crowd about her memories of growing up in her Italian cultural heritage, including her childhood escapades at her local Italian festival. The First Lady also told the story of visiting Ellis Island and seeing the records of her grandparents’ immigration into the United States.
“It was hard not to imagine how our ancestors must have felt, chasing the hope of this country’s unlimited promise,” Biden said.
The First Lady did not mention the verdict yesterday in former president Donald Trump’s hush money trial, where he became the first president ever to be convicted of a felony. However, the speech did not avoid controversial issues entirely. Four separate times, pro-Palestinian protestors stood up on the benches – each in a different part of the audience – to shout condemnations of the Biden administration’s handling of the war in Gaza.
Each time, the First Lady stopped her speech, twice addressing the protests.
“I must say, even though it’s a little disturbing, thank God we live in a democracy,” Biden said after the first protestor was escorted out of the pavilion by security.
After the fourth and final protestor stood and shouted, the First Lady invited him to talk with her rather than yell. While the First Lady’s speech mostly avoided politics, she did mention her husband several times, highlighting his work on the American economy.
“President [Joe] Biden is working to build on what this community has accomplished and help us and all communities keep reaching for that bright future our ancestors were searching for,” Biden said.
After her speech, Festa Italiana executive director Sandy Winard told WTMJ the opening of Festa 2024 has been a whirlwind.
“We have the First Lady of the United States joining us tonight, you couldn’t ask for a better opening night,” Winard said.
Winard confirmed that the First Lady reached out to her about speaking at the festival, giving them a very fast turnaround to get the logistics figured out before opening day.
“[The White House] said she was Sicilian and she would very much like to help us welcome us back to these grounds,” she said.
The Festa Italiana theme in 2024 is celebrating the culture of Sicily in particular in addition to Italy in general.
Festival-goers told WTMJ they were excited to see the First Lady speak at Festa Italiana, but were mostly baffled by the protests.
“It was just unbelievable how they had to pick this venue to start yelling at the stage,” Florence Anastasi said. “They could have done it some other place, they didn’t have to be at Festa Italiana to do it.”
“I thought she was very graceful about everything,” Nicole Manchester said. “I liked that she wanted to talk about the issues that people were bringing up. I thought it was really classy.
Festa Italiana runs through Sunday.
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