KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — The Knoxville Opera held the 20th Annual Rossini Festival in downtown Knoxville Saturday.

The festival featured various performances on four different stages, local food and drink vendors, and artisan booths.

The Moeller-Smith family traveled to downtown Knoxville from Sevierville for the festival.

“We were just kind of looking for something fun to do. We love to come down here when they have festivals,” Alyson Moeller-Smith said.

They said the display of different cultures was good for their toddler, Wilder.

“It really exposes people to the culture and shows different, especially with this, all the different types of music, and for him to be able to see a lady singing opera on one corner and a guy playing violin on another corner, it’s really something,” Derek Moeller-Smith said.

CEO Jason Hardy with the Knoxville Opera said they host the festival with the goal of bringing attention to the art.

“Opera as an art form is all of the arts, basically it’s like a casserole and its deconstructed, you’ve got storytelling, movement, dance, singing and instruments, and what we’re doing with the Rossini Festival is basically all those pieces that make up the art form of opera are scattered throughout the day on the stages,” Hardy said.

He also said partnering with local businesses for the event brings the community together.

“The airport’s involved, Kimball’s Jewelers are involved, Embassy Suites is involved, I mean all these businesses that are core to the culture community here, it allows us to bring beauty, fun, camaraderie and community right here in downtown,” Hardy said.

Steamin Steve’s Barbecue is one of many local businesses that had a booth at the festival.

“This is our second year with the Rossini Festival and we were very successful last year, so we decided hey people like our product so let’s just come on back,” Joyce Sudderth said.

Sudderth is the co-owner of Steamin Steve’s and said the festival is a great opportunity for small businesses.

“Especially for small business owners, this gives us an opportunity to shine, a lot of people get to taste our products, we give samples out every time we’re here, so that really helps us, especially when we’re trying to make a presence into local businesses, and for them to sell our product,” Sudderth said.

This year’s Rossini Festival made a return after being canceled for a few years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.