After reading through a list of events for the upcoming weekend, I saw exactly what I wanted to report on. FOOD + Italian Culture + Lots of people + FOOD = A great story! I may have made my decision on the account of being hungry and Italian but I like to think I chose this story because it was a major community event that sounded very interesting. Festa Italiana is a three day festival in downtown Syracuse that has food, music, Italian bingo, bocce tournaments and more! What could be better right?Now that I found a story, I needed an interview. Since my story was leading up to an event I thought I could take an angle that highlighted the vendors preparation for the festival. With sixteen vendors I was positive someone would want to talk to me, a student who has no superiority, connections, or pull. Well I was wrong. After calling eight of the vendors I was starting to get hopeless. They were all busy getting ready for the festival as well as running their restaurants and bakeries. No one had time to talk to me. Finally, I called Joey's Restaurant in Dewitt and they told me to come on in and they would find SOMEONE to talk to me.
After a fifteen minute drive to the restaurant, I walked inside and was greeted by a smiling hostess. The problem? The hostess had no idea who I was and the woman I spoke to who promised me a interview with SOMEONE was no where to be found. But I was in luck! After telling the hostess who I was and what I wanted she sweetly told me that the Director of Operations, Dennis Hayes, was on his way to the restaurant and would be happy to talk to me! I could not have been happier!
After a twenty minute interview with Dennis Hayes (which i was very appreciative for since I knew he was extremely busy getting ready for the festival), I knew I had it! He was amazing and made my job so easy. I learned a lot about the prep work for the festival, the festival itself, and why Joey's is involved. Not only did I learn everything I needed for my story, I learned that Joey's has been around for twenty-five years and the chef also is the current standing Meatball King (pretty impressive if you ask me!).
Conclusion: The people were friendly and the food smelled great so go check it out if you get a chance!
P.S. I attended the event and it was amazing... so were Joey's meatballs!
6 comments:
The festival was a good idea for a story. I thought about doing it, but I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to get a hold of a source in time. I didn't think of going to one of the vendors that would be at the festival.
Sounds like fun. I like this story idea. The festival is something I've never heard of but something I definitely want to attend next year. I love Italian food!
You really lucked out on this one, huh? That's awesome, and I like that you did a story on the Festa Italiana because if you hadn't, I would have had no idea that it actually happened. You really set yourself aside by not doing a story about Newhouse III or Rosh Hashanah...kudos!
Noel, my gal...
Your picture makes my stomach yearn for a nice big bowl of spaghetti. I think you did a very nice job on your wrap and you were very prepared. Plus you followed up by attending the festival, sweet deal.
Having said that, it is long and I have an incredibly short attention span.
First of all, anything that involves Italian food AND bocce is bound to be a great story. Sounds like you really had to search for somebody to interview, so I'm glad it worked out for you in the end. I'm sure it was a lot of fun to cover this event, and after reading this I'm starving for some pasta. I also didn't have lunch, so that also helps.
I like your story idea, i really like that you talked to a vender rather than a director. I think it gave the event and your story real personality.
Post a Comment