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ROTTERDAM
Revived festa back for another run
Food, music among attractions at popular church event
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Justin Mason at 395-3113 or jmason@dailygazette.net.

   Six years ago, parishioners of Our Lady of the Assumption Church grudgingly ended their annual festa.
   Preparing for the event required more than 200 volunteers and many of the members of the parish had grown too old. After 70 years of holding the event at the church off Princetown Road, it was gone for five.
   “It was a big letdown that we didn’t have one after all those years,” recalled Anita Farina, one of the parishioners.
   But that all changed when a small group of dedicated volunteers stepped forward to revive the tradition. The four men recruited a group of nearly two dozen others, who then found even more to carry out last year’s event.
   “We said ‘Hey, we know a lot of good people in the parish, why don’t we start talking,’ ” said Jeff Fallet, the event’s chairman. “The next thing you know we had a committee of 20 people”
   It clicked. More than 20,000 people turned out for the three-day celebration last year.
   This year, the church has nearly 350 people pitching in for the festa, which begins this evening and runs through Sunday. Generations descended upon the church this week to prepare fresh baked goods and Italian dishes.
   “Everything is fresh and made right here,” said Frank Marotta, co-chairman, who was among the volunteers to revive the event last year.
   Though planning for the event is almost a year-round process — baking usually begins in May — there’s still plenty of work left to do in the days leading up to the event. Volunteers filed through the church’s kitchen Thursday as cooks prepared the Old World dishes including pasta e fagioli, meatballs and minestra.
   Marotta’s parents, Silvana and Angelo, are among the older generation now teaching the newer generations the secrets of their traditional cooking. The Marottas immigrated to Rotterdam from Italy in 1961.
   “They’re trying to learn all the time,” Silvana Marotta. “They’re watching everything we do,”
   Some of the classic flavors of the festa will also be featured for the first time in a cookbook this year. Marotta said the book will be sold during the event.
   The event will also feature several local bands, including the TS Ensemble, Capri and Grand Central Station. Entertainment will include rides for children and games of chance for adults.
   But the festa is about more than food, music and games, Fallet said; it’s about bringing the community together for a weekend of revelry.
   “It’s more than just a parish event, it’s a Rotterdam event,” he said. “Bringing it back was pretty easy.”

MARC SCHULTZ/GAZETTE PHOTOGRAPHER
Silvana Marotta prepares some of the many Italian sausages Thursday that will be consumed at the festa at Our Lady of The Assumption Church in Rotterdam. The three-day event begins today

And let me tell you, if you come down Princetown Road to Mariaville Road / 5 Corners, the sign they have there is going to cause an accident some time this weekend.  It almost makes sure you can't see if someone's coming down Mariaville before you pull out.

I can just smell the pasta fagioli....mmmmmm

Looking pretty busy for opening night.  Should be much more going on tomorrow.

I'll be there tomorrow night! That's where I'll eat my dinner.

see ya there........mmmmm

You know the best thing about this festival?  Although I haven't been over, I have been looking out my window.  There's lots of cars parked over at Jefferson...and the traffic is actually slowing down!

I swear, does anybody have a video camera I can borrow?  Traffic is moving slower during this Fest than it does any normal school day when the speed limit is cut in half!

I went and it was mobbed. They had their usual good food, more rides and games for the kids, a good band and of course lots of beer and gambling!

Quoted from bumblethru

and of course lots of beer and gambling!

Exactly what I'd expect if I went to church for a party...

Gee, I didn't see BINGO, though. Must not be a money maker, huh?

Oh...I forgot to say that Jim Tedesco and George Amedore was at the Festa tonight. They were not together, nor were they there at the same time.

I'm sure they weren't there, pulling a "Tonko"

Actually, Tedesco was there early evening and I saw Amedore there later evening. Now OBVIOUSLY, they could have been together at other times and talked to a zillion people....I don't know.....it wasn't my day to watch them!