
Italian Week in Ottawa kicks off with flag raising
The Italian flag is raised at Ottawa City Hall to mark the start of Italian Week. June 5, 2025. (Mark Sutcliffe/X)
The Italian flag was raised at Ottawa City Hall Thursday to mark the start of Italian Week in the city.
Italian Week is the annual celebration of Ottawa's Italian community.
A flag-raising ceremony was held Thursday morning, attended by Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, city councillors, and Italian ambassador to Canada Alessandro Cattaneo.
Italian Week is mainly celebrated on Preston Street, the heart of Ottawa's Little Italy neighbourhood, where residents and visitors can experience Italian culture, music, art, and, of course, Italian food.
Opening weekend begins Friday, with live music and the Morin Supply Kids Zone.
Saturday features live music, arts and crafts such as making Venetian masks, Roman gladiator helmets or laurel crowns, and beaded bracelets.
Sunday features more live music, as well as the Feast of St. Anthony outdoor mass and luncheon at St. Anthony Church on Booth Street.
A full list of events can be found on italianweekottawa.ca.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


CBC
11 minutes ago
- CBC
Do West Fest takes over stretch of west end street in Toronto
A festival that bills itself as "Toronto's start to the summer" has taken over a stretch of a major west end street this weekend. Now in its 12th year, Do West Fest celebrates the rich culture of the city's Little Portugal neighbourhood. Sixteen blocks are closed to traffic across Dundas Street W. between Lansdowne Avenue and Shaw Street. The streets are now filled with food trucks and local vendors instead of cars. Organizers have set up three music stages — Lulaworld, Community and Transmit Presents — throughout the festival. "All of them bring a bit of a different flavor," Kristyn Gelfand, the event's lead producer told CBC Toronto on Friday. "Lulaworld has bands from as far away as Ecuador and Brazil. The Community Stage is programmed hyper-locally, so all the artists on that stage have a direct connection to this neighbourhood, whether they live or work or rehearse in this right here on Dundas," Gelfand said.. "And then [there's] the Transmit Stage, which brings in the best of Canadian indie rock from all across the country." The festival will wrap up at 6 pm. on Saturday, but road closures on Dundas Street W. will stay in effect until midnight.


CBC
42 minutes ago
- CBC
Tataskweyak wildfire evacuees in Thompson 'meeting place' hoping to reconnect with family all over
Social Sharing Grace Beardy's youngest child was born in Takaskweyak Cree Nation on May 19, Victoria Day. Ten days later, power in the community was out. The boy was about two weeks old when he became an evacuee. "It was sad, especially going through postpartum and carrying the little one," Beardy said Wednesday. "I was alone out there with him for four days, until my sister came." Tataskweyak, also known as Split Lake, declared a state of emergency on May 29, with a wildfire only about a kilometre away from the northern Manitoba First Nation. Beardy and her three children were among the more than 2,400 Tataskweyak residents forced to leave their homes because of the fire. Northern Manitoba evacuees frustrated with lack of resources, information 4 hours ago Duration 2:33 Many evacuees fleeing wildfires in northern Manitoba say they're feeling a mix of emotions, from confusion and frustration to exhaustion. Over the past week, 2,400 residents of Tataskweyak Cree Nation were forced from their homes, and many are now trying to find refuge wherever they can. "There was buses coming in and they were just loading people up," said Melanie Spence, who was in Thompson for a day trip as the evacuation began. "People were kind of hesitant to go," she said. "They didn't know how big the fire was going to be there. They were hoping that it [would] be put out every day. We've never seen anything like this." PR 280 connecting the community to Thompson on the west and Gillam to the east is the only road servicing Tataskweyak. The road was closed off last week because of the fire. With the way home blocked off, Spence decided to help evacuees who ended up in Thompson, which is about a 100 kilometres southwest of the community, as the crow flies. She's been directing people to the city's Wawatay Inn, which is owned by Tataskweyak and usually serves people coming for medical appointments. "It's the closest thing to home," she said. "They serve food here. So I figured, well, this will be … the meeting place." Duke Beardy, an economic development officer with the First Nation, said the facility is open to evacuees from Tataskweyak as well as other communities. "There's people from Lynn Lake here too, and Nelson House too.… If there's room, then they stay here too," he said. But with only 18 rooms, space at the inn is limited. 'It's been chaos' Sylvia Saunders said about seven people in her party — including a baby and a toddler — were staying in the same room at the inn as of Wednesday. "It's been chaos for everybody here. Still a lot of people don't have rooms," Saunders said. "I did manage to fit everyone in there and to try and have a comfortable sleep." Saunders said people have resorted to sleeping in couches at the inn's lobby because of the lack of rooms. Edwin Beardy said the situation is already stressful enough. "It's frustrating as well as sad because of family, … they're all over," he said. "From what I'm hearing, my family, some of them are in Gillam, some of them in Winnipeg and a few are in Niagara Falls…. It's hard." Grace Beardy, who was also staying at the inn as of Wednesday, said she was waiting to connect with family who ended up in Winnipeg. Leaving the community "was cold and sad," she said. "But I couldn't be sad in front of my kids. I had to stay strong." The fire at Tataskweyak was about 21,000 hectares as of the latest provincial fire bulletin Friday.


CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
‘We can't live in fear': Vancouver prepares for large-scale weekend events after Cirque du Soleil crash
Several large events and festivals are taking place this weekend and police are ramping up security as fears remain high. Police are gearing up for a weekend filled with large-scale festivals in Vancouver, just six weeks after the Lapu-Lapu Day attack. The festivities also come in the wake of a frightening incident at Pacific Coliseum, during which a driver apparently in the midst of mental health crisis crashed into the entrance during a Thursday performance of Cirque du Soleil: Crystal. The Vancouver Police Department said more than 300 additional officers will be deployed across the city from Friday to Sunday, using the newly acquired median barriers expedited last month for the Vancouver Marathon. On Saturday, the B.C. Lions kick off their season with a performance by Snoop Dogg before the game. A festival is also scheduled for Terry Fox Square to welcome the more than 50,000 fans. The team's president, Duane Vienneau, said parts of Robson and Beatty streets will be closed to traffic and lined with archer barriers to help secure the area. 'We're safety first,' said Vienneau. Vienneau and others responsible for holding events across the city have been working to ensure that everyone attending is safe – and feels safe. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to flood Commercial Drive on Sunday for Italian Day on the Drive, and similar to the B.C. Lions home opener, archer barriers will stretch across closed roads to prevent vehicles from getting near crowds. 'We can't live in fear,' said Melissa De Genova, vice-president of the Italian Day Festival Society board. 'We have the utmost confidence in the VPD and the city has been very diligent in the planning.' Other events taking place this weekend in the Lower Mainland include the West Vancouver Community Cultural Fest, Burnaby Heights Hats Off Day, Doors Open Richmond, and Car Free Day Newton in Surrey. The Surrey Police Service told CTV News it is prepared to welcome the expected crowd of 5,000 to the latter event.