This summer’s Festa Italiana at the Porcupine Dante Club features entertainment the night of Saturday, July 22nd. Vice-president and organizing committee member Louis Clausi says it’s “The Last of the Duke Street Kings”, an eight-piece band from Montreal that performs the music of Bruce Springsteen.
The question is, what does that have to do with Italian culture?
“Nothing. It’s an event. It’s the music,” Clausi quickly answers. “We’ve had Paul Sebalj on Friday nights, and he’s Croatian. We don’t think we’re going to sell a lot of tickets to a couple guys playing the accordion on Saturday night.”
“Sunday is our day where we do our Italian heritage stuff,” he continues. “We have the accordions. We have an Italian choir. We sell our sausage. We have our food that night.”
The food includes a pig roasted on a spit.
Even before that, the restaurant moves outdoors on Friday, July 21st. There’s also a golf tournament that day.
If any of the events on Cedar St. outside the Dante Club are rained upon, Clausi says they’ll be moved indoors to the hall.
