Anytime an international soccer tournament is taking place anywhere in the world, Commercial Drive, Vancouver’s Little Italy, is ground zero for ‘Azzurri’ fans across the lower mainland. The June 10th Euro 2012 match sees Italy taking on, reigning World & Euro Cup champions, Spain. The street will be alive with the chants of football fans and coinciding with this match is the 3rd Annual Italian Day, celebrating Italian culture, traditions and heritage.
Commercial Drive will embrace all that is Italian: food, music, fashion, folk dancing, classic cars, vespas, miniature Formula I replicas and more. Restaurants will be extending their businesses with outdoor patios, while a wide variety of Italian associations and guest vendors will line the street with authentic style food and merchandise.
The celebration will feature a bocce court and Italian-inspired food contests: grape stomping, pasta and watermelon eating, as well as pizza tossing. Music will also be a highlight of the event with a lineup that includes showman Federico Fuoco, international singer/songwriter Carmelina Cupo, and the city’s patriarch of traditional Italian music, Gianni Fuoco.
Style and fashion also hits the Drive with a designer fashion show by Vancouver fashion designer Rozemerie Ceuvas and her European inspired Jacqualine Conoir and JAC Collections. Plus, a historical pictorial display will be set up and includes local Italian soccer legends from the 60s as well as prominent business personalities who have played a role in the landscape of Vancouver and the Italian community in general.
To top it all off, Italian Day will be selling raffle tickets with four generously donated prizes – first prize being a trip for two to Rome with a five-day stay at a Tuscan Winery Estate. A prize valued at $5,000.
EVENT: Italian Day on The Drive
LOCATION: Commercial Drive (which will be closed to motorized traffic with all festivities and stands positioned along the Drive from 3rd Avenue to Parker Street)
DATE: Sunday, June 10, 2012
TIME: 12:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Find us on Twitter: @ItalianDay #ItalianDay