Lactose Highs at the Cruccolo Parade
by Galen Wilson
If you happened to walk down Shafter Avenue near Market Hall at almost precisely noon on a recent, damp Saturday, you may have seen a 366-pound wheel of Italian cheese being paraded down the street. Accompanying it were festively dressed cheesemongers, an accordion player and plenty of fanfare from dozens of delighted neighborhood onlookers. But to call it an unusual sight wouldn’t be exactly correct; in fact, Oct. 25 marked the 10th Crucolo Parade.
In case you’ve been sleeping under a wheel of cheese for the last 10 years, Crucolo is a coveted cheese from the Trentino-Alto Adige region of Italy. And Market Hall’s cheese counter is one of only two shops in the U.S. (the other is in Concord, Massachusetts) where cheese enthusiasts can find this delicious cow’s milk cheese.
In taste, it’s almost as if pecorino romano and brie had a love child — with a room temperature texture like refrigerated butter. And after letting the Cruccolo sit on the tongue, it finishes with a faintly numbing tingle.
Part of what makes the Crucolo Parade such a spectacle is the sheer size of the wheel. Roughly, it measured a whopping three feet in diameter and two feet high. And unless the volume equation has changed since I was in middle school 100 years ago, this thing clocks in at nearly 25,000 cubic inches. The wheel is shipped by boat from Italy to New York and then immediately transported by truck to Oakland.
Alma Avalos, Market Hall’s principal cheese buyer since 1998, was “looking for something amazing and different” at a 2008 food show in New York. When she saw the giant wheel of cheese, she said, “I want that cheese right now.”
Ms. Avalos’s enthusiasm for the event and the cheese is palpable as she hands out samples and answers questions — all while dressed in traditional Italian garb. Last year, she traveled to Italy to pick out the specific wheel herself. She noted that after last year’s parade, they sold the nearly 400-pound block in one week. Alvalos anticipates it will sell even faster this year; one cashier estimated that hundreds of people bought a chunk of Cruccolo on the first day.
The cheese is so popular that no restaurants or individuals receive special consideration — it's available on a first-come, first-served basis. On parade day, other shops in Market Hall collaborate by serving Italian-themed foods and samples (biscotti at the bakery, Italian vino at Paul Marcus Wines).
The Cruccolo is enjoying even more real estate than last year. Highwire Coffee, which used to operate in the front corner facing College Avenue, has moved to its own space next door, making way for the relocation and expansion of the cheese counter.
In prior years, the parade was held mostly outside, but due to a light drizzle and the fact that the cheese counter now offers much more indoor space, this year’s celebration took place both inside and out. After the wheel was carted into its destination, cheesemongers cut and processed the massive wheel into smaller blocks for sale at the adjacent new cheese counter.
If you missed the Crucolo Parade this year, I highly recommend putting a reminder on your calendar for late October 2026. In many ways, it represents the best of Rockridge: community, tradition, fun and cheese. Don’t forget the cheese.
