Festival embraces and celebrities the region’s rich Italian heritage
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A relatively new cultural event the celebrates the rich Italian heritage of the region will receive up to $150,000 in Council support over the next three years.
Since its formation in 2022 to celebrate the region’s rich Italian history, the Cairns Italian Festival has delivered a diverse and unique program of activities to reignite inter-cultural and inter-generational community connections.
Serving as an umbrella for several food, wine, cultural and sporting events held across Cairns, the festival includes signature event such as the Gala Ball, Hall of Fame Awards, Family Night, and the Marconi-Bomben soccer match.
The festival has also expanded to include events held outside of the Cairns LGA, such Mareeba Sausage and Salami Festa.
The headline event is the La Festa – Food & Wine at Fogarty Park, which features Italian cuisine, live performances, a fashion parade, pizza acrobatics, traditional dancers, and children’s entertainment.
More than 12,000 people attend La Festa - Food & Wine throughout the course of the day and evening, 25% of which are from outside the Cairns LGA.
An assessment of the 2024 Cairns Italian Festival found that the event attracted 4,439 visitor nights to Cairns and had an economic impact of $1 million.
Council has endorsed an annual $50,000 (ex GST) in cash from 2025 to 2027.