San Gennaro Fest Expects to Draw 1 Million Visitors But Fate of Little Italy Church Uncertain

John Fratta sat at the rear of t-shirt booth as throngs of people attracted to the San Gennaro festival mobbed Mulberry St. on Sept. 14, mid-way through the Italian cultural festival that runs through Sept. 22.

”Last night was a little light, but tonight is good,” said Fratta, a vice president of the organization that runs the event, now in its 98th year.

The festival had already held its annual parade with Anne W. Burrell as the grand marshall on Sept. 13. Not surprisingly, the grand marshall is heavily invested in food. She’s a former instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education and is currently the host of “Secrets of Restaurant a Chef” on the Food Network.

On Sept. 19, the venerable San Gennaro statue, where locals still pin money to bring good luck in the coming year, will be paraded down Mulberry Street.

Fratta is also involved with an ad hoc group called Friends of Most Precious Blood, the Catholic Church on Baxter Street around the corner from the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd jostling down Mulberry St, buying cannolis, engaging in the few games of chance and partaking in the many restaurants.

Umberto’s Clam House had several booths on Mulberry Street not far from its latest outlet about mid-way in the block. Fans of mafia lore know the original as the site where mobster Crazy Joe Gallo was murdered in 1971. The current location is at least the third iteration of the restaurant that opened and shut a few times over the years and despite the notoriety has always tried to downplay its role.

Peligrino Russo was doing a brisk business in cannolis at a booth for the Ferrara Bakery. He said many of the Italians that flocked to the neighborhood in the later half of the 19th century when each region of Italy had its own parish have long since gone. “They went to anywhere but here,” said Russo, who says proudly, “I was born and raised here.” And he said he still lives in Little Italy.

He laments that the last remaining church is down to only one Mass far a handful of parishioners on Sunday at 11 a.m. although it recently added a 2 p.m. Mass in Vietnamese. Asked for his reaction to the limited schedule and the looming worry of a shutdown, he shakes his head.. “Shame, shame, shame.” He adds, “It’s probably inevitable that [the Archdiocese] is going to sell it.” The rectory that once housed the parish priests was sold to a developer for $14 million several years ago and turned into luxury condos.

Fratta said he has heard little from the Archdiocese of New York as to what the future plans are. Late last year, Cardinal Timothy Dolan issued an edict dissolving its merger into the Basilica of Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral which sits at the northern end of Mulberry St. But the two churches, while close in distance to one another, never really meshed as parishes which prompted the Archdiocese to dissolve the nearly ten-year old union first unveiled in 2014.

Most Precious Blood was eventually assigned to be administered by Immaculate Conception parish on E. 14th St., but Fratta said there has been no outreach to the dwindling number of parishioners at the Little Italy parish.

The Archdiocese did not respond to questions from Our Town Downtown asking if any final determination has been made on the church’s fate.

“No news is good news,” said Fratta. “They are closing so many churches.” He worries that with no baptisms or marriages or funerals that the church building that sits on land worth millions will be sold off. Its Sunday morning mass is celebrated by a Franciscan priest from the St. Francis of Assissi Church in SOHO.

With one million people expected to mob the festival during its ten-day run, it is clear that most have little knowledge of the drama surrounding the iconic church that was once built as a national cathedral from the booming Italian population in the city.

Most were just enjoying the hustle and bustle in one of the city’s most famous street fairs.

On that docket, Fratta has little worry. ”As long as the weather holds up, we’ll be fine,” he said. The money that festival goers pin to the San Gennero statute while saying a little prayer used to be donated to charities, but now it is kept as an insurance fund for the church. He said the San Gennaro committee still has $50,000 in its bank account waiting to see if it is needed to keep the church afloat.

Most people simply enjoyed the hundreds of vendors, with a few trying their luck at basketball toss or a shooting gallery. The pure gambling booths were dispelled years ago.

A man named Quinton, accompanied by Marline, was lighting up a hand wrapped cigar that he had just purchased from a vendor who was wrapping it in a stand on the street. “It’s $15 but it is worth it,” said Quinton, taking a long puff as he stood adjacent to what a sign insisted was a “smoking zone.”

Giselle Giaraaputo pushed her way through the crowd clutching her tiny Italian greyhound, named Giovanni which she said is the smallest breed of greyhound. “This is our second day down here so far this year,” she said. “We come every year for the food and the people.”