Organizers say it does not take a strong back; it just takes faith to carry the 600-pound statue of St. Ann
through Hoboken’s streets during the soon-to-commence annual festival to honor the patron saint of
women.
The procession of the female saint’s statue caps a seven-day festival of Italian food, eating, singing and
dancing that has taken place in the mile-square city each July for the last 90 years.
This year’s festival, which kicks off today, Thursday, July 20, and runs until July 26, is expected to
attract 100,000 people. It centers on St. Ann’s church, the small neighborhood Jefferson Street parish
that began 100 years ago and houses the famous statue today.
“When the statue comes out of the church, the tears just flow,” explained Marie Totaro, a parishioner
and the lead festival organizer for the last 11 years. “Saint Ann is the patroness of women, so it is only
women that carry the burden. But while you are doing it you do not feel a thing because the devotion
and the love is so strong.”
As usual, St Ann’s square, at Seventh and Jefferson streets, will be packed with vendors selling
traditional Italian wares and foods – including a garlic vendor who will travel all the way from Texas just
for the event.
Since the festival began 90 years ago when a few hundred immigrants from Monte San Giacomo gathered
in Hoboken to honor the patron saint of their small Italian town, the event has grown tremendously. This
year it was even listed in the L.A. Times as the premier summer event in New Jersey, said Maurice
Fitzgibbons, a county freeholder who handles publicity for the event.
After ducking into the church to pay homage to the saint – whose likeness will be removed from her
shrine nine days before the culmination of the festival and placed at the altar – many visitors will
immediately get in line to sample the fried dough-like creation known as the zeppole. Local legend has it
that the specialty food is made from a secret recipe that was brought to Hoboken by Italian immigrants
more than 100 years ago.
“The lines [for zeppole] go around the block sometimes,” explained Totaro. “People will wait an hour just
to get a bag of zeppole.”
Visitors can then retire to a “caf
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