Where everyone is Italian!
Team Cooking Contest
Spaghetti Gravy
Saturday, June 1 12:00 p.m.
Spaghetti Gravy is the cage fight of Italian cooking! You’ll spar with some of the BEST Gravy makers in Memphis for cash prizes and ABSOLUTE bragging rights. Each cooking team enters one 20 oz. sample to be judged on-site by a panel of gravy experts. The best Gravy takes it all!
Food Fellas - 2022 Spaghetti Gravy Winner
Grazie ai nostri Sponsor
Anything Italian
Friday, May 31 6:00-6:30 p.m.
Anything Italian is wide open, cooking creativity! Each cooking team enters one appetizer, entree or dessert dish that best delivers the essence of Italian cooking. Contestants are judged by a committee on creativity, taste and “Italian-ness”.
Registration Details
If you have any questions or need to make arrangements, please call Vickie & Richard Ranson at (901) 606-5123 or
email: theransons@bellsouth.net
Other Fun Italian Contests
Saturday, June 1 All Day
After you’re finished proving your gravy, compete in our other FUN events! Homemade Wine, Best Happy Hour Drink, Best Booth, Best Powder Room and Best T-Shirt are all fun, light-hearted competitions that EVERYONE can enjoy.
Peoples Choice
Saturday, June 1 2:30 pm – 5:30 pm
People’s Choice is just what it says, the public’s FAVORITE choice! The top six cooking teams in previous year’s Spaghetti Gravy contest each enter one Spaghetti Gravy sampling that is blindly judged by festival goers who make a donation to participate. Each donation is allocated to the gravy that each tester liked the best. Once totaled, the People’s Choice is awarded to the cooking team that received the most donations!
All proceeds from the People’s Choice will benefit The Holy Rosary School ANGEL Program, so come out to the festival, sample some great spaghetti gravy and help raise money for some very special kids! The ANGEL Program offers year round intensive instruction for children living with autism using innovative teaching techniques.
Memphis Italian Festival 2023
Team Cooking Contest Winners
Spaghetti Gravy Contest
1st Place – Pastafarians
2nd Place – Pasta La Vista
3rd Place –Foodfellas
4th Place – Molti Cugini
5th Place – Da Friends
6th Place – Pazzo!
BLIND Spaghetti Gravy Contest
1st Place – Foodfellas
Anything Italian Contest
1st Place – Meatball So Hard
2nd Place – Pasta La Vista
3rd Place – Garbolucci's
Homemade Wine Contest
1st Place – Garbolucci's
2nd Place – Pasta La Vista
3rd Place – Paisanos
Best Happy Hour Drink
1st Place – Garbolucci's
2nd Place –Italian Vagrants
3rd Place –Meatball So Hard
Best Booth Contest
1st Place – Pasta La Vista
2nd Place –Thursday Night Italians
3rd Place – 901 Mafia
Powder Room Contest
1st Place – Pastafarians
2nd Place – Pasta La Vista
3rd Place – Ciao, Y'all
Team Shirt Contest
1st Place – Paisanos
2nd Place –Ciao, Y'all
3rd Place – Luigi & Pasquales
Father Milton Guthrie “You’re Great” Award
Battestelli Famiglia
The Bob Noonan Founders Award
Stephen Coletta
Peoples Choice Award
Foodfellas