The Feast of St. Anthony is in full swing this weekend at St. Joseph’s Church across the street from the Columbus Elementary School on Washington Avenue. If you have not been before, this annual event is a wonderful community event for all ages which runs tonight until 11 PM and tomorrow until 10 PM.
The main event is a procession on Sunday after 5 PM mass, in which a statue of St. Anthony is carried through the streets of the West End; it is followed by devotees. Throughout the procession numerous donations are pinned to the statue, in hopes that the saint will answer the donor’s prayer.
The food is great — sausage and peppers and meatball wedges, hamburgers and more. That’s Peter Parente of United Veterans working the grill. The highlight (in my book) is the zeppolis. There is a covered dining area The church is raffling off a very nice brand new Camaro and there is a 50/50 chance. The kids enjoyed the games — shooting water into a clown’s mouth, darts, wheels of fortune. They also hand face-painting (of an exceptionally high quality I might add), colored sand in bottles and much more.
The event is low key, very well-organized; a great way to spend an hour or two with younger kids. The events organizers — Antionette Rossetti (right) and Judi Parente (left) have been running this event for years and do a great job.
Cynthia Lobo, Republican nominee for New Rochelle City Judge told Talk of the Sound this was her first official campaign stop. Her she chats with East End resident John D’Alois.
City Councilman Lou Trangucci whose district includes St. Joseph’s Church was on hand — either discussing some important political issue or reporting me to security for hogging all the zeppolis to myself.
As you can see, I did not eat all the zeppolis. This little girl got one all to herself.
The guy singing was so good that it took me a while to realize it was not a Frank Sinatra record playing in the background but this fellow whose name I need to add here. Anyone know his name?
Some additional fun photos follow.
