Help Bring Back St. Ann's Italian Festa!

First off, a very big thank you to everyone who has supported Saint Ann’s Italian Festa in its 115 year history. There were countless great Festa memories, and please know that friends of the Festa are working hard to ensure new memories are made for many Festas to come!

The COVID-19 Pandemic significantly impacted the ability to have a Festa for the past four years. Every time we tried to restart the Festa, another problem seemed to arise, like our industrial sauce vat breaking, resulting in the Festa being stuck in neutral. However, volunteers have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to overcome the challenges.

Last year, we were able to recently repair the industrial sauce vat used to make the Festa sauce, which was valued at close to $40,000 to replace, significantly reducing the cost to get restarted. Additionally, Festa volunteers have been working tirelessly with the Oratorian Fathers and Saint Ann’s leadership to create a plan and timeline to restart.

The first part of that plan is to have a Restart the Festa Dinner Fundraiser. While it’s not the full Festa, or even a mini-Festa, it is a step in the right direction. If this campaign goes well, the plan is to relaunch the Festa in the summer of 2024.

For those who cannot join us Sept. 23rd for the Restart the Festa Dinner Fundraiser dinner, but want to contribute towards securing the Festa’s legacy, please donate to the gofundme campaign so you can join us in 2024 for the full Festa, God willing. Even a small gift goes a long way in getting things running again.

The $10,000 fundraising goal will go entirely towards the expenses of restarting the event. Of which, some of the most important needs are in the kitchen. Much of the equipment is old and needs to be replaced or repaired, most critically the refrigeration.

Most Pressing Kitchen Needs:

Replacing an Unrepairable Refrigerator

New Convection Oven

New Slicer and Kitchenware

Commercial Fryer

Commercial Griddle/Grill

Proofing Cabinet

Additionally, there were items/services in the past that were donated to the Festa such as feast tents and the services of an electrician to compliantly set up the power for the games, rides, lights, etc. that we now need to account for financially unless we can get a sponsor or an in-kind services donation.

Even a small donation can go a very long way. Thank you for your generosity.