BY BILL BRADLEY
The City of Greater Sudbury?s large and proud Italian community is again looking forward to hosting one heck of a huge party as Sudbury?s Italian Festival has arrived for another year.
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Irene Costantini, a cook at Sudbury?s Caruso Club, is a busy woman these days as she and the other staff are being kept busy preparing food for the 31st Annual Sudbury Italian Festival, which kicked off Thursday evening and continues all weekend. All festival events are centred in and around the Caruso Club on Haig Street in the city?s West End. |
The festival, now in its 31st year, kicked off Thursday evening and continues all weekend with the Caruso Club on Haig Street again party central for virtually every event.
?Come on out and feel what it?s like to be an Italian,? said festival chair John Santagapita.
Among many other things the festival features great Italian food, music, the always popular festival pageant, Sunday mass and closing awards banquet.
Spending a day at Sudbury?s Italian Festival will make you forget whatever ethnic background you come from and become an Italian for a day or weekend, said Santagapita.
?Everything is free, except for the food and the entry to the Fun Run walk Sunday afternoon at 2 pm,? he said.
The festival kicked off Thursday evening as it has the past several years with an amateur boxing card featuring fighters from the Top Glove Boxing Academy taking on rivals from the Quebec provincial team.
Tonight?s major event is the Regions of Italy Food Fair.
?All regions of Italy and their special food dishes are represented,? said Santagapita. ?It?s a big night. There?s just a huge turnout. After that is the Miss Caruso Pageant and that?s been very crowded the last few years. There will be lots of Italian girls coming from different age groups from 6 to 16 years.?
The fabulous food continues Saturday from noon onwards with the famed porchetta, pizza and sausages washed down by espresso coffee.
However, on Sunday, festival goers can lose the pounds gained by participating in the new 5 km Fun Run with a
route covering most of the West End, home to many Canadians with Italian ancestry.
For children lots of activities are planned also starting at noon Saturday.
?We have kids games both Saturday and Sunday, penny table for the kids, obstacle course, bean bag toss and many other events all weekend,? said Santagapita.
For youth there is a local Italian band and local rocker Johnny Aho will play rock and roll Friday night in the outdoor tent.
A disc jockey will spin tunes during a dance Saturday evening.
The annual Italian festival dance starts at 7 pm Sunday inside in the Upper Hall.
There also is a more serious charitable side to the Italian Festival.
?We have a festival draw that raises money for the children?s choir, it?s $2 a ticket with first prize being a 36-inch TV, second prize a digital camera and third prize a DVP player,? said Santagapita.
?It helps pay for the conductor and accompanist and other costs, including uniforms, in attending local functions.?
The Italian Festival has a major impact on the Italian community, the second largest ethnic group in Sudbury.
?It brings everybody together for a weekend of fun, helps promote the Italian culture and rounds out the image of what being an Italian is all about,? said Santagapita. The festival is planned as far back as early winter with over 100 volunteers helping, and, ?everybody is welcome,? said Santagapita.
For more information call 675-1357.
