The sausage skins have been stuffed and the talent selected. All that's left to do now is wait a week and pray for good weather.

The 13th annual "Benvenuti! Italian Festival" will return to St. Philip Neri Catholic Church on Munn Road, Fort Mill, Thursday, May 15. The festivities will begin with the children's costume parade led by the Dora and Diego characters from Carowinds at 5 p.m. This year, for the first time, a Prince and Princess Benvenuti will be crowned, with the awards going to the boy and girl with the best costumes.

The winners will also get trophies.

Last week, about a dozen volunteers piled into the kitchen at St. Philip Neri to turn 900 pounds of raw pork into sausage links using Joe Tramontana's secret recipe.

"We decided to go up to 900 pounds this year because we ran out last year," Tramontana said. "Last year we had 650 pounds."

The Festival spans three days - 5 - 9 p.m. Thursday, 5 - 10 p.m. Friday, and 11 a.m. - 8 p.m. Saturday.

Another first at this year's festival is the Italian Idol Talent Contest. The competition was open to anyone with any kind of talent. Preliminary judges narrowed the field this past weekend. The finalists will compete starting at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 17, in front of a panel of celebrity judges. The judges include Roger Cullis of the Charlotte Music Awards, Leslie Nease of New Life 91.9 FM and" Survivor: China," and Jay Taylor and Marc Hanna of WRHI's Morning Show. Cash and prizes will be awarded to the top three performers.

In addition to the ever-popular homemade Italian food, the festival will also feature live and silent auctions and more than 30 vendor booths, including some fine arts and crafts.

Festival organizers are also adding more kids' games and rides this year, including a rock climbing wall and "Jurassic Adventure."