Make California Post a Preferred Source Los Angeles popular Italian festival was abruptly cancelled after it’s found died suddenly on the eve of the eighth edition.
Joey Sorice, the CEO of the festival and a comedian, suffered a heart attack at his home Saturday morning, organizers announced.
The event was supposed to have been held at the iconic intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue, on Sunday, Oct. 4.
A member of the organizing team posted on Instagram, requesting people to share cancellation information at the festival venue if people still showed despite the last minute cancellation.
“I was able to contact the food vendors to cancel them but I was unable to find where Joey kept the information on merchandise vendors,” the team member wrote.
“We were just preparing a piece about tomorrow’s festival when we heard this sad news. May his family find peace, and may his legacy live on in further years at the festival he so loved,” the Little Italy Podcast posted.
However, some disappointed would-be attendees said organizers should have gone ahead with the festival.
“Wouldn’t it make sense to hold the event in his honor?,” Caitlin Haurie commented on Instragram.
Sorice was widely recognized as half of the comedy team Jimmy and Joey, a duo whose impact earned them a permanent spot on the walls of The Comedy Store.
The duo had also auditioned for season 10 of America’s Got Talent.
Members of the local entertainment community and comedy scene in LA mourned his loss. Ron Swallow, a fellow comedian, called him an “interesting guy” and that “the world will be a little less jolly and hopeful without him.”
“We have done some of the craziest gigs and I watched his duo act crush in rooms that made no sense for it to crush in. I’m sad that I’ll never get a call asking me to do some wild ass project with him,” Swallow posted on social media.
