The Downtown Ithaca Alliance and City of Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick will join new downtown restaurateurs Citra Mohammed and Gedese Degebasa as they celebrate the grand opening of their restaurant, Hawi Ethiopian Restaurant (113 South Cayuga Street) on Friday, April 3, 2015. A ribbon cutting ceremony will take place at 12:00 noon, after which there will be a buffet featuring delicious signature Ethiopian dishes, to be followed by a traditional coffee ceremony.

Says Mohammed, “Gedese and I are both from Ethiopia and we met while working in an Ethiopian restaurant in New York City. We found out about downtown Ithaca and when we came to see it we knew that this was the place. We hope that this will be a chance for us to officially meet the people of Ithaca.”

All of Downtown Ithaca’s ribbon cuttings are free and open to the public and members of the press.