By JOSEPH KELLARD
Larsen was among some 250 feast volunteers, and last Wednesday, crunch day, was a far cry from the initial steps required to make the feast possible, involving several trips to the Town of Hempstead to obtain such bureaucratic necessities as permits and variances. Now, while Larsen made sure the crimson-and-gold tents were secure as he took refuge from the rain under them, he also checked to ensure that the propane and other gas tanks were properly hooked up.
The feast has come a long way from its humble beginnings, when it consisted of just booths for sausages, zeppolis and hamburgers. Today, 12 food booths sell all these as well as pasta and clam sauce and eggplant and meatball heroes, three game trailers offer stuffed animals for prizes and the 21 rides range from a merry-go-round to the new Astro-Liner X-10, a rocket simulator.
"The first feast was a one-day affair from 4 to 10 p.m., and we ran out of food by 5:30, and I went out and hit all the supermarkets," said Anthony Ditizio, who, along with his wife, Marilyn, organized the first St. Anthony's Feast in 1970. "People just lined up because it was the first feast in the area."
During those early years, Lou Trapani built the food booths himself, the sausages and zeppolis were homemade, and the volunteers consisted mostly of parents whose children attended the parish's elementary school. Today, the booths and tents are rented, the food is purchased from various vendors, and many volunteers come from the nearby Knights of Columbus.
Larsen and Frank Freney, the feast's food chairman, began volunteering 30 years ago. While Freney poured brews at the beer truck, Larsen worked the sausage booth with the late John Rello, whose wife, Faye, has worked all the feasts in the cafeteria kitchen. Rello recalled a blackout during the fourth feast. "We started boiling the zeppolis and the electricity went out," she said. "But we just kept cooking in the dark."
Among the core group of originals like Rello, Trapani and the Ditizios is the Albanese family, whose children and grandchildren make up many of the volunteers. "It's very family-oriented and all volunteer," Freney said. "And when people come down, they see what we do here, and they ask if they can help out next year."
Dan Farrell, who, along with his wife, Mary, and sister, Pat McCaul, has worked the hamburger booth since day one, said, "It's like a big backyard party at your house."
"In the beginning it brought a closeness between many of the parishioners," Marilyn Ditizio said.
But many people long involved with the feast have either passed on or moved on, such as the people who ran the Las Vegas Night gambling booth, and volunteers have been harder to recruit in recent years. "Times are different now, and people are working two jobs," Freney said.
But while manpower may be harder to come by, labor has been eased a bit in recent years thanks to a forklift donated by Dee's Nursery. And the one constant is the reasons why people work and attend the feast. "People still look forward to coming and seeing people they may not have seen since the last feast," Larsen said. "And they enjoy getting together with their families here."
"It's fun seeing the children dance with their parents and grandparents," said office manager Missy Androu about the feast-goers who take a liking to the Echoes, a 10-piece ensemble led by Oceansider Tony Saitta.
Another constant is the feast¹s status as the church's biggest fund-raiser, netting $80,000 to $90,000 on average each year. "Thank God for the feast, because it really is what keeps the parish going," Anthony Ditizio said.
Marilyn Ditizio recalled that $1,100 was pinned to a stole draped around the statue of St. Anthony outside the church at the first feast. "The priest at the time reminded me to make sure we had the stole out the following year," she laughed.
The year after the first feast, Sacred Heart Church in Island Park contacted the Ditizios to help them start their own feast. From there, feasts blossomed at churches all across Long Island, just as St. Anthony's grew considerably by the late 1970s. By the second year, the feast expanded to Saturday and Sunday, and it has operated from Thursday to Sunday ever since.
Of course, the event¹s success is largely dependent on weather, and the threat of weekend-long rain last week had Larsen concerned. In years past, however, people would come rain or shine, Larsen said. He recalled how during one feast, before they set up tents, it rained cats and dogs. "We were handing the food and beer through the cafeteria windows to the people inside," Larsen said.
Another of the more memorable feasts also revolved around water, in the form of a dunk tank. Then Pastor Vincent Sullivan dared to sit on its plank. "We raised quite a bit of money that day," Larsen laughed.
Asked about why he has become so involved with the feast, particularly as chairman, over the past decade, Larsen said, "Well, first, it's my parish, and I do it for the camaraderie and because of my faith. I love the people here."
"I just enjoy seeing the throngs of people enjoying themselves," Anthony Ditizio said as he once again worked the sausage booth last Sunday, "and I still enjoy the cooking."
Photos by Penny Frondelli/Herald
Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.
