Dear Editor:
As our hot summer eases into autumn, our family has enjoyed yet another season of magical evenings at the Holy Rosary Feast – La Festa Italiana – under the gaze of our 6th Street Harsimus Embankment.
This year’s chairmen, Carmine Colasurdo, Nicholas Sorrentino, and Nick Grillo – names echoed in the historic images of our downtown Italian American community on display outside and in the church hall – their planning committee, and all of the volunteers held what appeared to be one of the most successful and well-attended festivals in memory.
For almost 20 years, we have come to the feast. Before moving from Hoboken, we would walk over to enjoy the evenings and the community of Holy Rosary. Since downtown Jersey City has been home, we’ve planned our summer vacations and activities around “our” feast to be able to spend several evenings there. Our children have grown up attending yearly – eating, playing, and just having a great time at the feast, even when it was down to one or two evenings.
Thankfully, Holy Rosary and its La Festa Italiana are enjoying a robust rebirth and parents of our children’s friends are now volunteers, bringing our community full circle.
This year funds were raised for a restoration campaign of Holy Rosary Church, which is the oldest Italian Roman Catholic Church in the state of New Jersey.
Thank you, Holy Rosary community, for helping to make Jersey City our home.
Daniel Levin and Leonila Paunil