‘It was like one big celebration.’
Those were the words of Federico Fuoco, owner of the now permanently closed Federico’s Supper Club in the heart of Vancouver’s Little Italy.
Federico’s Supper Club, a restaurant on Commercial Drive that has been open for decades, could not withstand the financial consequences wrought by COVID-19.
While it might be an establishment you didn’t even know about, it was a central part of Little Italy’s revitalization.
After a 28-year hiatus, 2010 marked the return of Italian Days on The Drive, thanks to a partnership between Fuoco and Carmen D’Onofrio, the president of the Commercial Drive Business Society. This community event has drawn large numbers of people ever since, becoming one of Vancouver’s largest cultural street festivals.
Fuoco spoke with Lynda Steele Show contributor Eric Chapman on CKNW Radio about the decision to close, and what a night at the Supper Club was like.
“Everyone would be partying and dancing together.”
It’s an image that for all of us, feels like a thing of the very distant past.
Listen here:
While the government is doing all they can to help small businesses survive the global pandemic, for Fuoco, it was too little too late.
Many restaurants were already scraping to get by in Vancouver thanks to high property taxes, and restaurants owners such as Fuoco are saying that simply deferring those taxes will not be enough to keep them afloat.
Watch below: memories of Italian Days
Comments