Little Italy Days Prep
The banners went up last week, and the Italian flags are waving along Liberty Avenue throughout the business district. You may have even noticed that the parking meters and light poles have been repainted with the colors of the flag of Italy! If you’ve been anywhere in Bloomfield for the past week, you know it’s almost time for our award-winning Little Italy Days Festival. Tomorrow at 11 a.m. we’ll be kicking off our Seventh Annual Festival with a ribbon cutting ceremony featuring elected officials and sponsors.
Mayor Luke Ravenstahl cuts the ceremonial ribbon at Little Italy Days 2007.
The Bloomfield Business Association has been prepping for the festival for months now, planning and cleaning with help from the City and local volunteers. The all-volunteer group responsible for repainting our meters and poles is Renew Pittsburgh, a non-profit organization whose mission is to work with residents of the City of Pittsburgh to try to spark a sense of renewal in our neighborhoods, which they believe to be our best assets as a city. They work with leaders and residents in neighborhoods across the City to address some of the problems in the neighborhood that are solvable, but just need some cooperative attention.
Volunteer cleans brushes
On Saturday, September 20, Renew Pittsburgh volunteers joined together with residents in Bloomfield to clean up trash along the Bloomfield business district in anticipation of the upcoming festival. Volunteers scraped the telephone poles and parking meters and repainted them the venerable red, white and green to honor the strong Italian tradition of our neighborhood. Please visit their website at www.RenewPittsburgh.org or contact Kevin Acklin, Executive Director, at 412-404-6630 for more information.
A newly painted parking meter and flag of Italy sit in front of Donatelli’s Italian Food Center.
If you’re up early tomorrow, you’ll see work crews and volunteers setting up the stage at Liberty and Cedarville and carrying tables and trash cans to the red and white striped tents. I’ll be there at 6 a.m. and throughout the weekend. See you at Little Italy Days!