By Joe Cirillo

For 115 years, the Italian enclave of Raritan, N.J., would process the statue of Saint Rocco through the streets to kick off an Italian summer Festa filled with food, fraternity, and festivity. That is, until the COVID-19 pandemic sent the historic celebration grinding to a halt in 2020. As each year passed without a feast, the return of the beloved Festa seemed increasingly in doubt and another treasured Italian American tradition would be lost unless something was done. Thankfully, the Festa is not only back but it’s better than ever thanks to two years of hard work and planning from past, and future, Italian American leadership.

Raritan’s Italian Festa stepped off in 1896 when 100 or so Italian families in a town of 3,000 decided to plan the first St. Rocco celebration. The very first Festa had all the staples of an Italian feast. There was a Mass at the town’s original Catholic church, then St. Bernard’s, the patron saint statue of St. Rocco was processed through the streets, there was food, music and fireworks. By 1903, the Raritan Italians — who had been attending St. Bernard’s Church — started their own parish (St. Ann’s) and the Festa has been associated with it ever since.

Through the years, the Festa saw some interruption. From 1943–1945, the Festa was not held due to World War II. Then, in the early 2000s, the St. Rocco procession was controversially eliminated by a pastor at St. Ann’s, to the disappointment of longtime devotees. Finally, in 2020, the Festa was shut down due to public safety concerns during the pandemic. However, simply restarting once the public health restrictions loosened was no easy feat.

The Festa has long fought the temptation to hire vendors. All the food is made fresh daily by volunteers. Families of the parish school, Saint Ann Classical Academy, normally stepped up to help, as the feast was the school’s largest fundraiser. Unfortunately, enrollment was down after the pandemic so there was the question of volunteer participation. Also, critical kitchen items, like freezers, commercial refrigerators and the 40-gallon sauce vat colloquially known as “Vinnie the Vat,” needed to be replaced costing tens of thousands of dollars.

It was clear that if the Festa was going to be resurrected, it had to be authentic to the tradition.  That meant renovating the kitchen. To raise the necessary capital, a committee was formed that organized a “Restart the Festa” dinner in the fall of 2023 that brought back many of the feast’s favorite foods for one night only. The dinner was a smashing success with nearly 200 people in attendance, raising more than $11,000 to repair and replace the necessary kitchen equipment.

Once the startup capital was raised, it was time to plan the feast. A date was set this past June, and after nearly 60 years of service, we said arrivederci to Vinnie the Vat and benvenuto to Vinnie 2.0! As the event drew closer, the buzz grew louder. Finally, after two years of planning, despite all the naysayers and bumps along the way…we did it!

People from as far as Canada traveled back to the old neighborhood for the 116th Saint Ann’s Festa. It was a joy to see people embracing after long absences throughout the three-day event. When we brought Saint Rocco into the church for the Festa Mass and procession, there was a vocal chorus of elderly Italian women ecstatic with devotion.

The popularity of Festa food was through the roof, with more than 2,000 people attending each night. The pizza fritte line seemed endless as it wrapped around the corner of the church, while the debate over the sauce or sugar topping raged on. The Italian food stand sold out of meatballs, sausage and peppers, and eggplant sandwiches nightly and over 800 handmade cannoli and sfogliatelle were eaten throughout the event! This is it; this is Festa!

I had always been proud of my Italian ancestry, but it was through my participation in the ISDA that I was inspired to lead the cause to resurrect the Festa. Part of our mission as ISDA members is to preserve Italian American traditions and culture and celebrate our heritage through social activities and community events. When the opportunity to chair the Restart the Festa efforts presented itself, how could I say no?

Over the years, the theme of engaging young people as our future is rightly at the forefront of every major Italian American conference. Now there is no question that emerging leadership from Italian American youth is vital to moving our community forward. However, what is sometimes lost in the shuffle is how young people can receive the wealth of knowledge gained from prior generations. Through the ISDA, I have been fortunate to pick up the wisdom from experienced, like-minded Italian Americans who share the belief that traditions, like Festa, are worth saving

Tradition is a funny thing in the sense that it needs two parties to sustain it. You need the “old guard” to pass the torch and you need the “new guard” to receive it. If either party fails in their duty to foster, protect and shepherd the tradition, then the tradition is lost.

Since the first Festa I would have attended was canceled during the pandemic, I listened to anyone who had experience with the event to help piece it together. Parents told stories about working the Festa with their grandparents as kids, and how they couldn’t wait to work the Festa with their children when it returned. The best was this old Italian lady who shared with me her stories working in the kitchen for decades, fondly recalling how she would roll meatballs and clean pots and pans. She was comforted that younger generations are continuing the tradition.

It was through those conversations that I understood Festa was bigger than I imagined. We are standing on the shoulders of giants. The committee could not have pulled off the Festa without the sacrifices and contributions of the generations before us.

What began in the spring of 2022 as this wild idea to restart the Festa to support my daughter’s school, turned into this two-year odyssey. Somewhere along the way, it became more than a fundraiser. The Festa is a testament to our faith, our families and our future. Salute!

 

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