STRIKE UP THE BAND

Speeches from reveered speakers and Ithaki Council members conclude Independence Day Parade in Vathy. The podium has Ithakis elite, made up of the Mayor, the Eparxo, high ranking military officers and Kionis own, Papas Babis, judicating over the procedings. When the parade is over, most locals then congregate at the various Cafe Bars located around the village Square, before they head back home for lunch. A little know tradition is that after the Independence Day Parade, locals, along with their children by their first ice-cream for season. It's a tradition that has seen the island through many, many years. Today the weather was actually very conducive to eating one too, so there were lots of very happy ice-cream faces in the crowd.