Photo by Ross Gallabrese Michelle DellaFave sings Thursday evening at the Berkman Amphitheater. She was a member of the Golddiggers and the Ding-a-Ling Girls who performed with Dean Martin.

STEUBENVILLE — Ask any one of the thousands of people why they have come to Steubenville this weekend for the 30th annual Dean Martin Hometown Festival and you will likely get several answers.

There is one, though, that just about everyone will include.

That is the quality of his music.

“He was the king of cool,” said Nigel Brown while discussing Martin Friday morning. “But his music, his music will live forever. People will be listening to his music long after I’m gone, because his music resonates with everybody. I mean, everybody relates to it, and he was, like, smooth.”

Brown and his wife, Gloria, made the five-and-a-half-hour drive from their home in Lexington, Ky., to attend this year’s festival. He said it was the fifth time he has made the trip to Steubenville.

The Browns were talking during a break in a session at the Main Branch of the Public Library of Steubenville and Jefferson County that centered on Martin and Jerry Lewis and the upcoming 80th anniversary of the beginning of their collaboration. It included a talk on movie restoration by Bob Furmanek and a special showing of the Martin and Lewis film “At War with the Army.”

It was just one of many events held during the first two days of the festival, which opened Thursday with a meet-and-greet at 7 Ranges in the Fort Steuben Mall, a special edition of the weekly concert at the Berkman Amphitheater and the annual karaoke contest at the Spot Bar. Friday’s other events included the annual golf tournament at the Steubenville Country Club, a presentation at the Jefferson County Historical Museum, car cruise at Historic Fort Steuben, an event at Chesterton and Co. Cigars, supper club-themed events at Pastaio’s and Scaffidi’s and a performance by Joe Scalissi at the Spot Bar.

“Well, I find that the music he chose to sing had a timelessness all of its own,” said Michelle DellaFave. “He always had a particular style that was his own unique style. That made him special in how he interpreted every song. He made them his — which is wonderful.”

DellaFave, who lives in New York City, had the opportunity to work with Martin during the late 1960s and early 1970s as a member of the Golddiggers and the Ding-a-Ling Girls, staples of his Thursday night television program that aired on NBC.

“I always had a good time working with him,” she said after singing the national anthem as part of Thursday’s concert. “He was unpredictable, but he was always in a fun mood. He called himself the fifth Ding-a-Ling. He was just a joy to work with — he was easygoing, and it was always a joy to be around him.”

For Jimmy Rzepecki, Martin’s music has always been part of his life.

“I grew up with it with my grandfather,” said Rzepecki, who lives in Bel Air, Md., while discussing the crooner who was born in Steubenville on June 7, 1917. “Seeing him listening to it, and seeing how happy he was listening to or watching Dean gave me that connection to it. In music these days, it’s so overedited and overdone.”

Rzepecki and his girlfriend, Sam Schiumo, who lives in eastern New Jersey, were spending part of their Friday browsing in the gift shop at the fort’s visitor center. He added that his grandfather has been coming to the festival yearly since 1996.

“He just really had that pure, raw talent, the voice that drew you in, the lyrics that you could listen to and understand and connect with,” Rzepecki added. “I feel that everybody can feel that personal connection with Dean in one way or another, no matter what age you are. I feel like that music is multigenerational.

“A kid in the karaoke contest Thursday night — I think he was about 17 — was singing Dean and it sounded incredible,” he explained. “It’s awesome when I see people younger than me still enjoying that music, because when I started coming, I was by far the youngest person at the festival, and seeing it carry on to younger generations is really cool to see.”

Several of the competitors in Thursday’s karaoke contest at the Spot Bar agreed. They like the music so much that they were willing to get up on the stage, listen to a joke from longtime master of ceremonies Lou Martini Jr. and sing to music provided by DJ Paulie Walnutz.

“To me, it’s so popular because I think that whole era represented a time of glamour in America,” said Jack Hanson, who came from Phoenix with his mother for the festival. “A good way to describe it would be the place to be, because everybody would go to nightclubs and everybody would go to lounges and that type of music would be all over those places.”

Nick Scott of Steubenville said there is just something special about the music.

“Listen to how good it is,” Scott said. “It’s just timeless music. I think of Dean Martin in the way I think of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones — it’s timeless music that will never get old. You can play it at any point in the year and it will sound good.”

Mike Wiggins of Lansing, Mich., meanwhile, said Martin’s style was special.

“I think the way he approached a song, it just made it look so easy, and just the way it comes out — it’s so smooth,” said Wiggins, who has only missed attending the festival three times since 2000. “It’s just the way he delivers a song, his style — nobody can sing like Dean. There will never be another Dean Martin, at least not in this lifetime.”

While the music of Martin, who died on Christmas Day in 1995, was special, he remains one of the few entertainers who mastered every form of the industry, from radio to television, from movies to music to the casino showroom. Martin shined in them all, and he made it all look easy.

“His nickname was the King of Cool,” Nigel Brown said. “He mastered every form that he tried to conquer, whether it was in Las Vegas, in personal appearances, in movies and films, recordings or TV. Everything he did, he became a dominant force. He was just awesome in everything.”

Saturday’s events include:

• 7:30 a.m.: Registration for Dino Dash 5K (race starts at 9 a.m.), Historic Beatty Park, 621 Lincoln Ave.

• 10 a.m.-1 p.m.: Honor Flight Columbus Tribute with special guest Michelle DellaFave, Berkman Amphitheater, Historic Fort Steuben.

• 11:30 a.m.: Joe Scalissi, Undo’s, Weirton.

• 1 p.m.: The Cugines, the Spot Bar.

• 2 p.m.: Dave Salera, the Spot Bar.

• 3 p.m.-6:30 p.m.: MDA Benefit Event, Sycamore Youth Center, 301 N. Fourth St.

• 5 p.m.: 1917 Supper Club of Steubenville with special guest Michelle DellaFave, Froehlich’s Classic Corner, 501 Washington St.

• 8 p.m.: Tom Stevens and Friends, the Spot Bar.

(The Jefferson County Historical Museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Historic Fort Steuben will be open for tours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.)