Ten sensational events over 17 days

| I sabella Guzman Gonzalez

AFTER a highly successful inaugural run, the Cairns Italian Festival returns later this month with a 17-day Italian extravaganza.

Expanding to a 17-day program from July 21 to August 6 across FNQ venues, the second Cairns Italian Festival promises to be bigger and more delicious than ever with all the events you loved from last year and many more in an enormous celebration of Italy in the tropics.

Cairns Italian Festival president Steve Cordenos said guests could expect an Italian party like no other.

“Last year, we had over 25,000 people across all events and the Roman Exhibition and 12,000 throughout the day on our Festa,” Mr Cordenos said.

“The Cairns Italian Festival is the biggest cultural event in Far North Queensland. We will hold 10 different events across 17 days.

“The Festa Day on July 29 will be enormous this year, still at Fogarty Park but in a bigger area and double the amount of food stalls.

“We’ll have live entertainment starting at 10am and finishing at midnight. We will hold fireworks the night before on Friday at the Esplanade.

“We’ve got four diverse nights at different restaurants representing Amalfi Coast, Southern Italy, Central Italy and Nothern Italy paired with exceptional wines.

“The Gala Ball will encompass the

Hall of Fame Awards, it’ll be a huge night, and then we’ll finish off in Mareeba with the Moriconi Bomben Soccer Cup and the salami and sausage festa on August 5 and 6,” he said.

Mr Cordenos said confidence was high thanks to the unwavering community support.

“Possibilities are enormous,” he said.

“The only thing stopping us from making this festival bigger and bigger is manpower because there’s only so much work we can put in.

“But we’ve got great ideas, and we’ll make it bigger and better.”

This year’s festival will also commemorate the stories of Italian immigrants in the tropics further with a 110-page book available for purchase on La Festa.

“Last year, we marketed a foundation book which includes the stories of all Italian immigrants. Families have the stories of their grandparents and great-grandparents in it,” Mr Cordenos said.

“Half of the book is dedicated to the inaugural Cairns Italian Festival, and it’s got how it started and every event that we hosted last year. The book has gone into production and it’ll be available for sale at La Festa and also online, it’s called ‘La Storia, the faces of Italian immigrants’.”

For more information and to purchase tickets to The Cairns Italian Festival, visit www.cairnsitalianfestival.com.au