The team at Volare restaurant in Southport are teaming up with Wayfarers Arcade to offer a true taste of Italy at the Venetian Carnival this weekend.
The popular, family-owned restaurant on Lord Street was voted by members of the public as the Southport Restaurant Of The Year at the 2024 Your Southport Stars Awards.
Volare Head Chef Jason Maimone is looking forward to cooking authentic Venetian frittelli – fried doughnuts – for families to savour when they visit the arcade between 12pm and 5pm on Saturday, 1st March 2025. Admission is free.
Visitors can enjoy two flavours of frittelli; plain, or with pine nuts and sultanas.
People will also be able to stock up on delicious Italian deli food and drink items at the carnival.
There will be plenty to enjoy, with visitors set to be entertained by Venetian clowns; make Venetian masks; taste Italian food and drinks; be serenaded by classical music; and end the occasion in style with a Masked Venetian Ball.
People will be able to enjoy drinks and cocktails including Italian bellinis.
This event is among the regular ‘Creative Village’ events due to take place with the ambition of welcoming more visitors, bringing a new vibrancy into the arcade and attracting potential new traders.
The ‘Carnevale di Venezia’ is being organised by Wayfarers with the support of the family-owned Volare restaurant on Lord Street.
Jason Maimone said: “We are delighted to be able to team up with Wayfarers Arcade for their Venetian Carnival this Saturday!
“Visitors will be able to buy our frittelli, which we are making specially for the event, along with other Italian food.
“We will also have some deli items from Volare which will be on sale inside the arcade.
“We are both based on Lord Street so it’s great to be able to work together.
“Volare has always been a really community focused, family-run local business. We love doing what we can to support community initiatives and events.
“Hosting a Venetian Carnival at Wayfarers Arcade is a brilliant idea, and we hope lots of people come down and enjoy everything happening.”
During Saturday daytime at Wayfarers Arcade, visitors will be able to enjoy an artisan market.
The market will be selling goods from within the arcade as well as authentic Italian food, drink and produce provided by Volare.
Duo Rose will be performing baroque classical music for people to enjoy between 12pm and 4pm.
Clowns from New Heritage Performance will be appearing as Venetian-inspired retail clowns between 12pm and 4pm, mocking the growth of online shopping and its impact on society in an amusing and engaging way.
Inside The Engine Room, on the first floor, children and adults will be able to make their own Venetian masks to wear on the day and take home.
They can also complete colouring sheets, as well as making the most of the LEGO station.
Children have been loving coming face to face with Spectrum the bear inside the arcade, one of 10 bears situated throughout Southport town centre inspired by the We’re Going On A Bear Hunt children’s book and provided by Southport BID and Sefton Council.
At night, the arcade will come alive with a special Masked Venetian Ball inside The Engine Room, with tickets on sale just £10 in advance, or £15 on the door. The suggested dress is black tie.
Doors for the Venetian Ball will open at 6pm with the New Orleans Jazz Band playing from 7pm until 10pm.
Local artists inside Wayfarers including David Booth, Grant Searl, Ruth Ryder and Emmeline McLoughlin will be designing their own Venetian masks for people to bid for in a silent auction.
All money raised will be donated towards fixing the damaged lights on the Venetian Bridge over the Marine Lake in Southport.
Dr. Eric Lybeck from Wayfarers Arcade said:
“This will be an event unlike anything Southport has seen – something a little surreal, a little theatrical, and entirely in keeping with the historic grandeur of Wayfarers Arcade.
“We’re delighted to be working with Volare for this, not just because we enjoy collaborating with local businesses, but because Venice itself was built on trade, culture, and spectacle – things that once defined Southport, too.”
For more details visit: civedcic@gmail.com or visit: www.wayfarersarcade.co.uk
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