The women of the St. Ann Roman Catholic Church at Seventh and Jefferson streets are too old to carry the statute of their patron saint on their shoulders, but they have lost none of their devotion to their religion, their community, or the annual festival that celebrates all of their traditions.
On Sunday, July 26, they will lead the statue of St. Ann, now mounted on a cart, through the streets of Hoboken for the 105th time, capping nine days of prayerful reflection, and five days of food and festivities.
Before the final procession, patrons can enjoy carnival rides and games, delicious food from Italy and around the world, arts & crafts, raffles, and four nights of free live music.
The St. Ann’s Italian Festival will run from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. on July 22, 23, and 24, and from 1 p.m. to 11 p.m. on July 25 and 26. The celebration is centered in front of the St. Ann’s Church at Seventh and Jefferson streets. Expect the streets to be crowded with people at peak times.
Solemn devotion
The 600-pound statue depicting the grandmother of Jesus Christ was brought to the United States from Monte San Giacomo, a tiny village nestled in the mountains south of Salerno, Italy, in 1910. Many of the Italians in Hoboken can trace their heritage to the town.
Like any good Italian grandmother, St. Ann is generous with her love, serving as the patron saint of grandmothers, women in labor, unmarried women, housewives, horseback riders, cabinet-makers, and of course, Monte San Giacomo. Infertile women have prayed to the statue to become pregnant.
“This is a tradition that I would like to keep as long as I can.”—Marie Totaro
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“If you have a special intention, you can make a novena for that particular intention,” explained Marie Totaro, the co-chair of the festival.
The religious ceremonies culminate on Sunday, July 26, the Feast Day for St. Ann, with a mass at noon followed immediately by the procession of the statue.
Keeping tradition alive
What has kept the St. Ann’s Italian Festival alive at a time when so many links to Hoboken’s past are being lost, be it the restaurants, buildings, or residents themselves?
The zeppole certainly don’t hurt. The fried and sugared Italian dough balls are a speciality of the festival, famous enough to get a shout-out from President Ronald Reagan when he stopped by the St. Ann’s Feast on his re-election campaign tour in July 1984.
The women of the St. Ann’s Guild churn out the delicacies by the thousands based on a secret recipe, and eating of them is considered almost a rite of passage at the festival. “The line [for zeppole] is sometimes a block,” said Totaro.
However, what really keeps the St. Ann’s Festival alive after 105 years is that people like Totaro and her co-chair Mario Ferrara refuse to let it die.
“This is a tradition that I would like to keep as long as I can,” she said.
Though deeply committed to her traditions, Totaro is also open to starting new one. For the first time this year, she has added a tasting contest on Saturday, July 25 at 3 p.m. to determine the best pizza in Hoboken.
Unlike the feast festivities on Sunday, explained Totaro, “on Saturday afternoon, the people come with their children and there’s nothing going on to entertain.” The contest is meant to fill that void.
Live music abounds
Every night at 8:15 p.m. from Wednesday to Sunday, a band will perform on a specially prepared stage in front of the church.
The Bronx Wanderers will kick off the first night of the festival on Wednesday. The trio, made up of a father and his two sons, are known for their high-octane covers of rock-n-roll from the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s.
Thursday night’s musical guest will be a throwback of a different kind. Weehawken-based singer and organist Jeremy Beck and his band the Heavy Duty Horns have made it their mission to keep alive the horn-heavy mid-‘70s style made famous by Chicago, Tower of Power, and Ohio Players.
“A lot of people have described it like the Saturday Night Live band led by Joe Cocker and Michael McDonald,” said Beck.
Beck serves as the music director at the church, playing the pipe organ for weekend masses, and he said he was excited to show the church members “what I really do.”
Attendees can also see salsa outfit Orquesta La Caribeña on Friday, July 24, the Festival’s designated Latin night, Patrick Agresta and his All-Star Band on Saturday, July 25, and Italian tenor Frank Tenaglia on Sunday, July 26.
In honor of another anniversary coming later this year, the 100th birthday of Hoboken’s own Frank Sinatra, each performer would do a musical segment in honor of the Chairman of the Board.
Sinatra never performed at the St. Ann’s Festival, but Totaro said he attended the feast day with President Reagan in 1984. It was one of the few times Sinatra returned to Hoboken in his adult life.
Though Sinatra never sang, Totaro said the St. Ann’s Festival has brought in famoud crooners like Connie Francis, Jerry Vale, and The Drifters.