Festa Italiana is inviting Trail residents to the Piazza Colombo on Saturday to celebrate family and “all things Italian.”
Gord Gattafoni of the Festa Italiana group says everyone is welcome and this year, the family day will be celebrating Italian culture, with a few other cultures thrown in the mix.
“We are going to have the Kootenay Dance Works, a jazz dance company, a pipe band with some dancers, the Katie Shaw Dancers, and some local ladies Kathy Manna and Neveah White, who is about seven years old and has a voice like a bird,” he said. “This is a multicultural thing going on here.”
The annual gathering was rebooted last year after a six-year break starting in 2006 and is running off the success of last year's "Una Giornata Alfresco," or "A Day Outdoors." Gattafoni says he got some great feedback after last year's event and hopes this year will be just as successful.
“Last year, we had a great time with the Festa and we were very pleased with the turnout and the comments that were made afterwards,” he said. “We decided that it was time to resurrect it on a smaller scale and everyone can have fun with us.”
Although the Festa is about Italian culture, organizers say it is important to recognize the cultures that made Trail what it is today.
“The Italian culture has played a very important role, along with other cultures of course, in the history of Trail and it's always nice for people to get together and celebrate the culture they were brought up with,” said Gattafoni. “We welcome everyone in the city to come and participate in our Festa and we just hope the sun is shining and we have a good time.”
The entertainment may be multicultural, but the food is going to be straight from the boot-shaped country. Cooking will start on Friday in anticipation of Saturday's event.
“There is going to be pasta, meatballs, gelato and Italian baking,” said Gattafoni. “We are going be cooking pizzas on Friday and the meatballs too.”
The family day is sponsored by the Festa Italiana Committee with help from Trail Communities in Bloom and starts at 11 a.m. at the Piazza Colombo on Rossland Avenue in Trail. Events will come to a close around 3 p.m.