BIA News & Updates



Italian Festival 2017
We're counting down the days until Italian Festival. 
Here is what you need to know: 

Road Closures are different this year. Please note the following: 

Friday, June 16
  • Road will be closed by 5:00 PM, re-open at 1:00 AM for patios 

Saturday, June 17: 

  • Preston - Beech to Poplar
    • 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM for Italian car parade 
    • 4:00 PM - 1:00 AM for patios Preston 
  • Beech to Carling 
    • 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM for Italian car parade 
    • 3:00 PM - 1:00 AM for Ferrari and patios 

Sunday, June 18: 
  • Preston - Aberdeen to Carling 
    • 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM for bike race 
  • Preston - Carling to Laurel 
    • 5:00 PM - 12:00 AM for patios 
To ensure the safety of pedestrians we are reminding you to please wait until the road is fully closed before setting up your patio.

All the events are listed in the June Calendar which will be delivered to you shortly.

Parking Passes will be distributed one week prior to the festival. Please note there is NO PARKING ON PRESTON STREET. The parking passes enable you to get through the check-points to your own property, they are not permission to park on Preston Street. Any cars left on Preston Street will be ticketed and towed. 

Noise Exemption: We have received a noise exemption for the festival. Please try to aim your speakers away from the residential area, to keep complaints to a minimum. Also be aware that bass sounds travel further, and if you jack up your bass, we may not get our noise exemption next year. Please keep your volume to a level that entertains your clients only in your own patio area.  

The BIA is sponsoring two Street Performer Zones for this year, on Preston-- north of Beech, and north of Gladstone. We have many exciting entertainers booked for the three evenings, and hope this will animate areas along the street that do not have patio activity.

Join our Facebook event, like it and share it and help us get the word out about it! Check out our events schedule on the BIA website here.

Italian Week's hash tags#ItalianWeek2017 | #SonoItaliano | #SonoItaliana

You are Invited to "A Taste of Italy Assaggi"!


Wednesday June 14th, 2017
5pm - 10pm @ St. Anthony's Soccer Club
523 St. Anthony's Street
613-567-4532



Presdelicious is launching soon!
Ottawa, ON May 2, 2016 - Preston Street will be the tastiest place in Ottawa from July 21 to August 3 during Presdelicious, Little Italy's new celebration of the love for food. Participating restaurants will be offering exclusive mouth-watering three course table d'hôte dinner menu options priced at either $28 or $38. Read more

Vasto is looking for children to model for its fashion show during the Italian Festival
Vasto is looking for models to represent businesses located in Little Italy on  June 17th at 7 pm . The show will take place during the Italian Festival in front of Vasto at 225 Preston Street

Those interested in participating are to contact Cristina Forieri by email cristinaforieri@gmail.com or phone 613-889-2747 no later than June 14th.

Vasto has hired a professional photographer to capture photos of the models. Their photos will be shared on various social media. This is a fun opportunity for community involvement and promotion of each other's' businesses.

Thank you for your consideration!

Cristina Forieri
Vasto Boutique


Big Bike is Back!

Big Bike Event for Heart and Stroke will be back in Little Italy, Tuesday, June 6 from 9:00 am to 1:00! 

They love coming here because you are supportive and cheer their teams on as they peddle the huge bike through the area! 

The route will be Preston to Gladstone with a turn-around through the Adult High School, then back along Preston to Beech.
Don't forget the Do it Yourself (DIY) Event Grants! 
This will give you seed money to get together with a minimum of three businesses to put on an event. To be eligible for the grant, you must fill out the application form, and present your event at the monthly Board Meeting for approval. Board meetings are held the first Tuesday of the month. 

Tree Lights

The City scheduled regular pruning and replacement of dead trees last month, so we had to take down all the tree lights. 

They have all now been re-installed. Please let us know if they are not working in front of your property, we want everything running properly for Italian Festival. 
Heritage Mural Project
The Ministry of Transportation has finally given us the go-ahead to finish the mural work on the Queensway overpass.

Our artist Karole Marois will be re-painting the artistic elements next week and we have a crew in to scrape old paint on the top part and repaint the upper areas this week. It will be all finished by Italian Festival.

New Banner Program

We will be installing a new set of banners the first week of June. We hope you will like this street decoration project.
 "Meet Me on Preston"

Our June calendar is now out!

The June Calendar has been released! If you have an event that you would like on the printed copy of the July Calendar, you will need to have your information submitted by June 7th. We can add events to the web calendar throughout the month so be sure to make us aware of any special event or promotion you are having. We will also use that information to expand your advertising reach through the BIA social media channels.


If you have an event that you would like listed on the website, please email prestonbiainfo@gmail.com.  

Deadline is June 7th to make the July poster. Online, you can email anytime.

Social Media is all about Sharing
Don't forget to connect with the Preston BIA social media channels. 

Facebook: @prestonstreetbia
Instagram: prestonstreetbia
Twitter: @Preston_BIA

Hashtags you need to know about:

#Canada150
#CBC2017
#prestonstreetbia 
#littleitalyottawa
#prestonstreetottawa
#myottawa
#ottawa2017

Italian Week's hash tags: 

#ItalianWeek2017 
#SonoItaliano
#SonoItaliana
#ItalianFestOtt











Other News
City-wide project for Buy Canadian Day
Apply for a special Ottawa 2017 promotional event called BUY CANADIAN DAY (BCD) this year, on Sunday June 25th. It 's a great chance to have your business and BIA 's represented.

This year we are working with Ottawa 2017 to go bigger and curate a list of 30+ Ottawa retailers who sell at least 50% made-in-Canada goods in their stores. If you fit this impressive description, then please apply by midnight on Sunday, May 7th! Our goal is to cover 10 BIA's across Ottawa. 
Security warning: car break-ins
We are getting reports of Smash & Grabs from cars, so we are reminding you to encourage anyone who has been a victim of this- to report it to the Police.

Police response will be based on the number of reports they receive, if they don't get any reports, they cannot assign manpower to it. You might also want to be reminding your customers not to leave valuables in plain sight in their vehicles. Ottawa Police Staff Sergeant Sam Fawaz, tells us "Crimes of opportunity are avoidable by taking simple steps to crime proof yourself. In short, "if you can see it in your vehicle; the thieves can also see it!" If you notice someone behaving suspiciously around parked vehicles - for example: looking into cars and checking if they are locked or actually opening the doors - please call police and report it. Ottawa Police Call Center at 613-236- 1222, ext. 7300.

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CONTACT
CONTACT US:

Lori Mellor
Executive Director
Preston Street Business Improvement Association
118 A Preston Street, K1R 7P2
613-231-2815



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