Inwood's Santa Marina Feast returns July 10 and 11
The century-old Italian American celebration blends Mass, procession and street festival at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church.
Inwood's Italian American community will hold its annual Santa Marina Feast on July 10 and 11 at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, according to the Nassau Herald. The weekend opens with a novena service July 9 at 8 p.m., followed by the feast's first evening July 10 at 7 p.m. July 11 brings a 10 a.m. Mass and a procession through Inwood's streets, then another evening of food, music, rides and raffles starting at 7 p.m.
The tradition dates back more than a century among families who trace their roots to Filandari, Calabria, the hometown of Santa Marina, the patron saint the feast honors. Giovanni Curra, treasurer and secretary of the Santa Marina Society, said his father and grandfather brought the custom from Italy and that the group still raises money for the church and the neighborhood. Curra said the Mass and procession, when the statue of the saint is carried through the streets behind a marching band, matter more to him than the festival itself. Organizers estimate nearly 1,000 people attend the Mass each year.
Michelle Geluso, the society's corresponding secretary, has been involved for close to three decades, starting as a teenage choir director in the 1990s and later taking on roles in communications and history keeping, including a booklet for the group's 100th anniversary. She said women in the society begin meeting each January to organize raffles and other feast details, and pointed to a newly joined 16 year old as a sign the tradition is passing to another generation. That teenager, Marina Perna, said she is a fourth generation member of the society, following her great-grandfather, grandfather and parents into the group this year.