1981 FESTA ITALIANA, DALEY PLAZA

These photos represent a celebration of Italian-American culture at Richard J. Daley Plaza on June 22, 1981 during the administration of Mayor Jane Bryne. Her name is included on the sign for the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans which was started by Dominic DeFrisco who can be seen in frames #7A, 8A & 9A. There is a lot of pleasure in looking at the faces of the past, especially when you realize many of them have been immortalized and not here in the present and someday that will include me! I’m especially enamored with photographing large scale events with many faces in the crowd. So many different facial features yet in so many ways similar to one another. The fashions of the day are also historical for their style and more so the fact that most of it was made in the U.S.A. in the 1970s/80s. Festa Italiana was an conglomeration of Italian-Americans, civic leaders and everyday people on lunch break from nearby office buildings and shoppers heading over to State Street where Marshall Fields, Carson Pirie Scott, Sears, Montgomery Ward, Woolworths still commanded State Street. Do you recognize anyone here? The people of Chicago would appreciate you chiming in if you would!