Facer fest unites cultures
Facer Street was crowded with people showing their cultural pride for the first ever Facer European Festival.
The St. Catharines neighbourhood has a rich history as a landing place for European migrants and was once a busy commercial hub.
Festival chair Henry Ostaszewicz was hoping for 3,000 attendees Monday, but says he was surprised to see many more.
St. George’s church sold 200,000 perogies before 3 p.m.
“This neighbourhood is a very multicultural neighbourhood,” Ostaszewicz said. “Because it’s multicultural we tried to include anybody and everybody who wanted
to participate in it. Along with that, we’re hoping that it brings some of the people that grew up in the neighbourhood back — and we’re seeing it today.”
The goal of the festival was to raise $10,000 for the revitalization and beautification of Facer Street. The Facer District Merchants and Residents Association hopes to install electrical wiring underground, pave the street with cobblestone, and add arches to either end of the street. Their goal is to make it a one-of-a-kind tourist destination.
Henry Radecki, author of The History of the Polish Community in St. Catharines, was displaying some of the photographs of the area he had collected through his research.
“I think I would like to see this Facer Street becoming one of the showcases of St. Catharines,” said Radecki, who moved to St. Catharines from Poland in 1982. “You see how many people are attending, that I think itself demonstrates that there is something. It’s exciting.”
“Next year we’re hoping that we can make it better than it is this year,” said Ostaszewicz. “This is our first year, but I think it’s a fantastic turnout.”
He said his favourite part has been seeing the smiles on people’s faces.
“The satisfaction is looking at the people being so happy about it all,” he said. “It’s been fantastic.”
There were traditional dancers and musicians at the event, and plenty of delicious food.
There was also a world recordbreaking calzone.
Roberto’s Pizza Passion served up a 15-metre-lomg calzone for hungry festivalgoers. Their previous world record was 12 metres.
Ward 3 Couns. Mike Britton and Sal Sorrento are being creditted with helping to make Facer Fest a reality.
“Facer Street has just been a jewel of St. Catharines,” said Britton, whose family has lived in the area since 1953. “It used to be way more commercial and we want to bring it back to that era, we want to revitalize it. We’re hoping that with the success of (the festival), it will give us the mandate to revitalize the street.
“Clearly with the turnout today, the community is showing that they want a little Europe here, too.”
“So,” said Sorrento, “this is the conduit through which we have brought the focus back to Facer Street.