St. Rocco's centennial commemorated during annual festival

St. Rocco Church, Hulberton.

To promote their upcoming festival and celebration of the 100th anniversary of St. Rocco's Church in Hulberton on September 3, members of the church family built a float which has been used in parades and as an advertisement at local events. DJ Beaupré is shown in his role as a stone mason. Kara DeFilice painted the canvas depicting the church. Submitted photo.

A commemorative ornament ($8) marks the 100th Anniversary of St. Rocco.

St. Rocco's centennial commemorated during annual festival
Sept. 3 celebration of Italian food and culture supports three local Catholic churches

One hundred years ago, Italian immigrants, some of whom were master stonecutters, volunteered their time and talent to build St. Rocco Church in Hulberton using red sandstone from local quarries. The church, which is now an oratory and only used for special occasions, is still lined with the small, wooden pews that accommodated people of much smaller stature 100 years ago. "You definitely do your penance after sitting through a service there," joked John Dellaquila, who helps organize the annual festival that raises funds to keep the oratory open, along with helping to support St. Mary's Church in Holley and St. Mark's Church in Kendall. All are linked with one pastor, the Reverend Joseph F. Kozlowski.

This year's St. Rocco Festival on Sunday, September 3 is not only a celebration of Italian food and culture, but a commemoration of the church's 100th anniversary. The highlight will be a multimedia exhibit entitled "Writing(s) in Stone and Textile: The Art/Works of Italian Americans from the Abruzzo Region." Christine Zinni, a videographer and oral historian from Batavia, has been working on the exhibit for four years, collaborating with nearly 20 families in Western New York and Italy. Descendants of the stonecutters, the families provided her with photos and documentation for the exhibit, which chronicles the migration of Italian stonecutters and their families from central Italy to the western portion of the Erie Canal.

Visitors to the festival will be able to see photos of Medina sandstone quarries from the early 1900s, photos from families of Italian stonecutters, paintings, textile art, artifacts, including stonecutters tools, and documentation on vernacular architecture. After the St. Rocco Festival, the exhibit will be moved to the Go Art! Cultural Center in Batavia where it will be on display from October 4 to November 9. In 2007, the exhibit will make its way across the Atlantic to Italy.

Festival organizers have been promoting the fact that it is St. Rocco's 100th anniversary since the summer festival season began. They built a float, with Holley student D.J. Beaupre posing as a stonecutter, which has been a part of local parades. The day of the festival, various items with the St. Rocco's Church 100th anniversary logo will be for sale, such as a glass ornament for $8, holy cards and medals for $1, golf shirts and sweatshirts for $20, and T-shirts for $10.

For the fifth year, Jo Paduano has hand-stitched a quilt for raffle with tickets selling for $1 each or three for $2. The lucky winner will receive a colorful, cathedral window patterned quilt for a full-size bed. The quilt took Paduano several months to create. She begins the process after each festival "because it's a bit of a let down when it's all over," she said. Then Paduano works on it all winter long in her cozy country home not far from St. Rocco's. She learned the craft with the help of her sister-in-law, Ida Vendetta, several years ago when a group of women decided to make a Holley community quilt. Now, her friends donate bits of fabric so she can stitch the St. Rocco's quilt every year.

Always held the Sunday before Labor Day, the festival draws about 1,500 people, many of whom travel back to the area just so they can attend the event. Several families started the festival in 1976 to celebrate the reopening of St. Rocco's after it had been closed for 15 years, and to celebrate the nation's bicentennial. Now, over 50 people, including co-chairs Joann Smith and Richard Cary, work countless hours to make the festival possible. "It's really a labor of love," said Dellaquila.

Food preparation is a huge part of the planning. Most of the eggplant Parmesan is made the Thursday before the festival over the course of about eight hours. Meatballs and pasta sauce, made from scratch, are prepared the day before for over 350 pasta dinners. Eight hundred bags of pizza fritta, sold at St. Mary's Church before the festival, is made in a well-orchestrated process that begins in August.

The day begins with a bocce tournament that brings in teams from around Western New York. A special service is held at St. Rocco Oratory beginning at 11 a.m., then people make their way across the street to enjoy authentic Italian food, including a pasta dinner, Italian music by Joe Sacco's Band and dancing, many children's activities, and plenty of opportunity for socializing.

The St. Rocco Italian Festival will be held Sunday, September 3 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the festival grounds on Hulberton Road, Holley, across from St. Rocco Oratory.