Entertainment
2 August, 2024
Italian festival drew crowds
THE biggest Italian party just became bigger in 2024, surpassing the 15,000 attendance figure of last year.
The food, the drinks and non-stop entertainment have made the 2024 La Festa one for the books.
Fogarty Park was Rome for a day last Saturday as La Festa brought together the best Italian food the region has to offer, wines and cocktails and a full day’s worth of entertainment with a special live performance from Melbourne band Siesta Cartel and Sydney’s The Italian Stallions band and the perfect close to the day with the fireworks.
Cairns Italian Festival president Claudio Di Bartolomeo said he was happy to have wrapped up another successful La Festa in his first term as president.
“We haven’t finalised figures, but we know for sure that attendance was higher than last year,” he said.
“It was a good day, everybody was happy and all the feedback we’ve received so far has been great.
“People loved the dancing from Turning Pointe Dance, and the live entertainment, but mostly people loved the vibe, the food, the drinks. We received a lot of compliments on the way the event was organised.
“As president I’m tired but I’m very proud of the team for what we’ve achieved and I’m grateful to the sponsors, the volunteers, the previous committee, who’s been helping in the background. To have so many friends who have now become family is amazing.”
Prizes were also up for grabs on the day with over $400 available for the winners of the popular spaghetti-eating competition. This year, returning champion Aliyah Durgutovski won her round and eventually crowned herself as the winner of the children category for the second year in a row, and so was the case for Lilli Anderson who took the overall win in the adult category.
The celebration was on from 10am to 10pm with returning favourites like Turning Pointe Dance who performed once again, a professional pizza twirler, Siesta Cartel with their classic Italian tunes and, for the first time, Sydney band The Italian Stallions wowed audiences and livened the night with their Italian charm and amazing vocals while the night closed at 10pm with the fireworks.
With over 30 food and beverage stalls running all day, Italian food and drinks were front and centre, paired with the live entertainment and community feel. The Cairns Italian Festival brought Italy back to the tropics for another year.
