Italian Street Fair set for April 19

March 20, 2008 02:12 pm

— Knoxville Opera’s 2008 Rossini Festival Italian Street Fair, a weekend celebration of the visual, performing, and culinary arts, is scheduled for Saturday, April 19, from noon to 9 p.m. on Gay Street and Market Square in downtown Knoxville.
The Rossini Festival Italian Street Fair is a free event featuring four stages of entertainment, an Artisan’s Market offering handmade and designer goods for sale, food vendors specializing in Italian and Mediterranean recipes, activities and games for children, street parades by living history re-enactors, a Rossini raffle prize drawing featuring a trip to Napa wine country and Kroger Stores gift cards, performances by the Knoxville Opera cast of Puccini’s Tosca, and fully staged and costumed presentations of Verdi’s classic opera, La Traviata in the Bijou Theatre, presented by the UT Opera Theatre.
Knoxville Opera is currently seeking area and community volunteers to work for the 2008 Rossini Festival Italian Street Fair. Persons interested in volunteering to staff an opera booth or beverage booth for a two-hour time block on April 19 should contact Don Townsend, opera production manager, at (865) 599-7961 or dtownsend@knoxvilleopera.com. A free ticket to the April 20, Sunday matinee, performance of the Rossini Festival production of Puccini’s Tosca is available to all Rossini Festival Italian Street Fair volunteers.
For further information, please contact Knoxville Opera, (865) 524-0795, and visit the Knoxville Opera Web site at www.knoxvilleopera.com or www.knoxvilleopera.com/rossini.