ITALIAN DAY – on the Drive

Date and Venue 9 June 2013, 12pm - 8pm | Commercial Drive North of Broadway

Events: Music, Mask Making. Fashion Show, Street Vendors, Street Entertainers, Fun Balloons, Mascot, Food from Italy, Sidewalk Cafes, and Traditional Italian Cooking demos by top-notch chefs.

Event Organizer Il Centro Italian Cultural Centre

Reviewer Karen Fitzgibbon


It’s sunshine for a successful Italian Day celebration on Commercial Drive. So where is your mask? This year’s theme is bringing back a 12th century tradition of the wearing of masks. The concept behind this back then was to eliminate the classes in society as was the Carnevale di Venezia (Carnival of Venice).

There is a huge crowd today and I can barely make my way through the happy party-goers. At the entrance is a vendor who is making balloon characters for children. (I think I saw a couple of adults in that lineup.) This year is more Italian than last year for some reason. Maybe it was the introduction of traditional masks and the Italian chefs giving cooking demonstrations.

It is a fun day with talented street performers, red and green balloons made into a high archway above us and a great variety of delicious Italian foods. There was laughter, singing, dancing and of course eating. Everything that I experienced was well organized and the vendors seemed to be really enjoying the crowd. If you could find a table at a street cafe you could be transported back to Italy with a great cup of espresso.

Italian Day is organized by Il Centro Italian Cultural Centre and they created an outstanding Italian Day.

Just an added note: this event is part of Italian Heritage Month that runs from June 4 to June 28 so check out the upcoming events at Il Centro Italian Cultural Centre.

© 2013 Karen Fitzgibbon