New York City's largest street festival, The Feast of San Gennaro, kicks off this Thursday, September 14th and runs for 11 days until September 24, 2017. The Feast is located along Mulberry Street between Canal and Houston Streets. The festival stage is located on the corner of Grand and Motts Street!
The Food
This one is obvious. Italian delicacies including meatballs, pizza, pasta, sausage and peppers, deep fried mozzarella balls, antipasti, and cannolis grace the New York City streets for hungry festival-goers. Our mouths are already watering!
Tony Danza
Tony Danza will be serving food at Alleva, the restaurant he co-owns, all week long! How cool is that? Alleva is known as America's oldest cheese store, and has been producing homemade ricotta and mozzarella cheese since 1892.
Annual Cannoli Eating Contest
The goal of this contest is simple: to beat out all the other contenders by eating the most cannolis in six minutes flat!
The Grand Procession
The Roman Catholic Grand Procession of the festival begins at 2:00 PM on September 16th, featuring Chazz Palminteri as Grand Marshal. The parade consists of various floats, traditional dress from regions across Italy, and gondolas. Numerous marching bands will be accompanying the parade!
Opera Night
You won't have to head to the Metropolitan Opera House for your dose of music! The San Gennaro Festival presents an Opera Night on September 18th, starting at 7:00 P.M.
2nd Annual Meatball Eating Contest
Eating competitions are all the rage at the festival of San Gennaro! This year's meatball eating contest will be the second annual, on September 23rd beginning at 1:00 P.M.
Live Musical Performances
Along with Opera Night, the feast will have multiple nights of live musical performances! Some artists include Johnny Mandolin (playing from 5-7 PM on September 14th), Gianni Russo (September 17th), Lala Brooks and The Crystals (September 21st), Vito and The Elegants (September 22nd), and Jenna Esposito (September 24th).
Play Some Carnival Games
Nothing says a street festival like some good old fashioned carnival games! These fun and interactive games line up throughout the festival each year and you never know, you just might win a prize! There are also carnival rides set up which can be fun for the whole family to enjoy.