Seattle Center Festal: The Italian Festival Features Renowned Chefs & More 9/25-26

Seattle Center Festál: The Italian Festival celebrates the joy of "all things Italian," from opera and popular music to pasta and wine, Sept. 25 - 26, Sat., 10 a.m., 7 p.m. and Sun., 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., in Center House, Fisher Pavilion and Seattle Center Pavilion.

This revered festival, inaugurated in 1988, features food vendors, crafts, puppet theatre, Italian films, a grape-stomping contest, pizza tossing competition and bocce ball tournament that honor the "old country" and recognize the remarkable contemporary contributions of this dynamic and artful culture. Admission is free.

Anne Burrell! Host of "Secrets of a Restaurant Chef" and "Worst Cooks in America" on the Food Network highlights "Great Italian Chefs" cooking demonstrations featuring local chefs from Seattle's best Italian restaurants. Special guest appearances by Public Broadcasting Service's Nick Stellino, host of "Nick Stellino's Family Kitchen," and John and Caprial Pence. Burrell appears daily at 3 p.m.

Opera Previews. Local luminaries offer live excerpts from the 2010 / 2011 seasons of Seattle Opera, Bellevue Opera and the Early Music Guild, all presented live on the Classical KING-FM Stage.

"Tony La Stella & the Goombas." Tony and his band headline an all-ages concert and dance Sept. 25 at 7 p.m., with the Italian dance, the Tarantella, rocking at its finest.

The 22 Festál cultural celebrations highlight The Common forms of tradition and expression among ethnic communities in the Pacific Northwest, while underscoring their unique creative contributions, customs, foods and ideals. Our 2010 "did you know" explore some of these commonalities and differences.

Did you know? The colors of the Italian culture are green, white, red and Azure blue. One of the greatest sources of pride to the Italians is their food, which varies greatly by region. The culture is renowned for its pasta, rice (risotto), corn (polenta), seafood, cured meats (salumi), baked dough with toppings (pizza and foccacia), wine and olive oil. Wine is served with every meal other than breakfast. Italians derive their cultural pride through individualism and artistic expression. The livelihood in this historically productive economy is driven by art, tourism, commerce, communications, machinery, iron and steel, food processing, wine, textiles, automobiles, home appliances, clothing, footwear and ceramics.

Seattle Center Festál: The Italian Festival is presented by the Festa Italiana in partnership with Seattle Center. For a full event schedule, visit www.festaseattle.com, and for more information on this cultural series and other Seattle Center programming, click on www.seattlecenter.com/festal or call 206 684-7200.

About Seattle Center Festál

Seattle Center Festál, a series of 22 world festivals presented at Seattle Center on weekends throughout 2010, highlights the distinct cultures and common threads of ethnic communities in our region through traditional and contemporary art, music, foods, youth activities, workshops and more. This collection of cultural events is produced with the generous support of Wells Fargo, Verizon Wireless and KUOW 94.9 Public Radio. Additional support is provided by Seattle Center Foundation and the City of Seattle.

More Information: www.seattlecenter.com

 

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