Linda Harris OL’ BLUE EYES IS BACK — Frank Sinatra tribute artist Dave Salera entertained the early afternoon crowd Friday at Dean Martin Hometown Celebration.

STEUBENVILLE — As Holy Trinity’s 2021 Greek Festival wound down Friday, Steubenville’s two-day Dean Martin Hometown Celebration was just getting started.

Mayor Jerry Barilla said festival week has been a community collaboration.

Working with JoJo DiAlbert of the Spot Bar, the Steubenville Visitor Center organized a street party with food and drink, crafters, vendors, and live music in the 200 block of South Fourth Street to celebrate Steubenville’s native son.

“The Steubenville Visitor Center partnered with Spot Bar this year to re-energize the Dean Martin Festival and bring new life to South Fourth Street,” he said. “We hooked up also with the Greek Fest, collaborated with them. We haven’t really done much on South Fourth, everything is usually concentrated on North Fourth. We thought it would be nice to bring light and festivities to South Fourth.”

Festival-goers were checking out the vendor booths long before the music started, ignoring temperatures in the 80s and double-digit humidity shrouding the city.

“This is my 16th year here,” said Joe Fabus, a Pittsburgh resident who wasn’t fazed by the heat or humidity. “I grew up in an Italian family, I heard Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra music growing up. I wish I’d known about Steubenville (being his hometown) when my grandfather was still alive.”

Fabus said his wife and three kids treat the outing as an extension of his Father’s Day gifts. “They haven’t missed one yet,” he said of his sons, aged, 11, 8 and 6.

Tom Stevens, Spot Bar’s headline act, said it’s his 15th year performing at the festival.

Stevens, a New York native now living in Las Vegas, did a “Dean & Friends” show Friday, and will round out this year’s festivities with a “Tribute to Dean Martin” Saturday at 9.

“It’s (about) my love for Dean Martin,” he said. “I did my first Dean Martin festival when I was 40, I’m 63 now. Out of those 23 years, 15 of them I’ve been here.”

A festival first-timer who didn’t want to give her name said she drove in from Cleveland “because of her,” pointing at her mother.

“The man was talented,” her mother, Carol, said. “And good looking.”

Nancy Tarulli Rees, a New Philadelphia resident, said DiAlbert, her cousin, had invited them to join in the fun.

“We’ve never been before, but I’ve always wanted to,” Rees said. “(This year) I wanted to come down and enjoy it with our cousin.”

Holy Trinity Parish Council President Anthony Mougianis said they’d had a blast.

“Wow is all I can say,” he said. “We are so thankful and humbled by the community’s outpouring of love. The crowds were standing room only. The enthusiasm was off the charts. Mostly everything was sold.”

Mougianis said the Greek Fest exceeded expectations every day, with record sales.

“We are so thankful and pleased,” he added. “Thank you to the entire community! We’re looking forward to Greek Fest 22.”

The street entertainment lineup for Saturday begins with Dave Salera: Tribute to Sinatra, 2 p.m.; Bob Morelli: Tribute to Dino, 2:45 p.m.; Flashback, 3:30 p.m.; Chris Denem: Tribute to Neil Diamond, 5:30 p.m.; Michael Angelo: Tribute to 50s, 60s, and 70s, 6:15 p.m.; Honky Tonk Sweethearts, 7 p.m.

Inside Spot Bar ($10 cover), Tom Stevens: Tribute to Dean, will begin at 9 p.m.

Other Saturday’s activities include:

• Historic Fort Steuben will be open Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for tours, with a $1 discount;

• An open house at the Jefferson County Historical Museum, which features a Dean Martin room from 10 a.m.-5 p.m.;

• A car cruise-in, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., at the corner of South Fourth and South streets;

• Food vendors, crafts and live entertainment from 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; and

• Trolley rides to the historical museum, 2 p.m.-4 p.m.