Show your pride and support of the LGBTQI+ community this weekend in Adelaide with the start of the Feast Festival, or make the most of the sunshine with the La Grande Gita bike ride.

Words Elisabeth Marie

Fashion meets food

Cristina Tridente, the designer behind Norwood’s fashion label couture+love+madness, has delved into her Italian roots to construct a dress made entirely of pasta to celebrate the Adelaide Italian Festival. The dress has been strung and woven using pieces of San Remo’s pasta products. The gown’s bodice features a mesmerising chain-like pattern made from hollow macaroni pasta that flows into an effortless fringe hemming that finishes with the playfulness of the wagon wheel pasta shape. The dress will be on display at Burnside Village from Thursday, November 3 until the festival’s end on November 20.

Splendid seafood

Sea + Sounds return to the Adelaide Central Market on Friday, November 4 with a program of street eats and seafood specials from local traders, alongside live music, children’s activities and a cooking demonstration by Press’ executive chef, Tom Tilbury. The Chilli Crab Shack by Sprout will be in the market serving up South Australian crab, while SiSea hosts Chef Nu for a two-day pop-up, serving tuna sashimi and entertaining customers with Yanagiba knife demonstrations. Visitors can indulge in South Australian produce and enjoy live music by the Atlantic Street Duo, Brian Ruiz, Leni and Jazz in Cheek, while the kids participate in a free “Sea Creatures” art workshop by Little Picassos.

Feast your eyes

Feast Festival, Adelaide’s annual LGBTIQ+ queer arts and culture celebration, kicks off its 25^th year on Saturday, November 5, with an opening night carnival party in Victoria Square headlined by Eurovision sensation, Sheldon Riley. The three-week program promises a kaleidoscope of colour with art and community events including the Feast Comedy Gala, a picnic in the park and queer friend speed dating. Other highlights include The Normal Heart performed by the State Theatre Company, Big Gay Bingo and the Queers in STEMM showcase.

Lighting up classics

The Lab will debut an audio and visual experience featuring the Australian String Quartet, South Australian leading visual artists and the music of Beethoven, Adès and contemporary Australian composers. The performance boasts a multi-sensory fusion of classical music set to a backdrop of 50sqm of LED screens with visuals created by Adelaide’s brightest digital minds Max Brading, Simon Kither and Orlando Mee. The two performances will take place on Saturday, November 5 with sessions at 5pm and 7:30pm.

Get on your bikes and ride

Rolling off on Sunday, November 6, La Grande Gita marks the first event on the Adelaide Italian Festival calendar and is a fun family-friendly bike ride through the stunning surroundings of the Barossa, combined with local food and wine. The event caters for riders of all abilities, with participants able to choose between four social races: Mega Grande, Grande, Mezzo and Piccolo, with each route varying their tracks to suit. Riders will stop at three Barossa wineries including God’s Hill, Cirillo Wines and Lou Miranda, adding an Italian flare to the event. Riders will then wine and dine at the final checkpoint, Calabria Family Wines, where they can relax and enjoy a gorgeous wine tasting and lunch with family and friends, overlooking the Barossa Valley.

Chop chop

The 2022 Adelaide Knife Show will be held on Saturday, November 5 and Sunday, November 6 at the Ridley Centre in the Adelaide Showgrounds. Visitors can browse a range of custom handmade knives, kitchenware, leatherwork and art pieces crafted and designed by Australian makers and learn more about knife-making and blacksmithing. There are also plenty of opportunities to gather the equipment and pick up the skills needed to start your own knife-making or blacksmithing journey. At the show, makers can also compete in competitions for categories including Best Forged Knife, Best Damascus Knife, Best Folding Knife, Best Utility Knife and Best Chef’s Knife.

Puzzling works

A new group exhibition is opening at the BMGART Gallery on Friday, November 4 featuring works by Wendy Stokes, Margie Sheppard and Leigh Warren. Wendy Stokes’ Flower in the Wind, Notations of Memory is a selection of paintings that pay homage to their origins; drawing from an eclectic set of gardens carrying meaningful connections to personal history. Margie Sheppard’s etchings are purely abstract and are investigations of colour and spatial relationships, through the use of geometrical forms, shape and texture. Leigh Warren’s are like puzzles needing to be solved and never straightforward. The exhibition will run until Saturday, November 26 and the artworks on display are available for purchase through BMGART.

For more of what’s on around South Australia this month, pick up the November issue of SALIFE, which is on sale now.