Festa celebrates 100 years of St. Patrick’s Church

RAVENA — It’s been a year of festivities marking the 100th anniversary of St. Patrick’s Church on Main Street, but last weekend’s Festa was the biggest of them all.

A crowd surged into the field behind the church last Saturday evening to honor the centennial of the laying of the church’s cornerstone a century ago.

One year later, in 1918, construction was completed and 2,000 people turned out to celebrate.

“The church was constructed between October 1917 and June 1918,” said Joe Boehlke, co-chair of the 100th anniversary committee. “The previous church was in Coeymans on a hill near St. Patrick’s Cemetery. They outgrew it and it was torn down after this one was built.”

The parish became too large to be accommodated by the original church, which was also known as St. Patrick’s, “so they purchased the property where the church building and rectory are now,” Boehlke said.

The large property behind the church, where the Festa was held last weekend, was originally owned by the Vasto family but was later acquired by the church. St. Patrick’s Church currently owns roughly four to five acres off Main Street, Boehlke said.

Decades ago, the church had an annual celebration that had fallen by the wayside, but parishioners decided to bring it back in a slightly different form for the centennial.

“Years ago we celebrated Assunta each year, which is a festival celebrating the Assumption,” said Festa co-chair Lori Nunziato. “That was back in the ‘70s or ‘80s. This year, we are celebrating the Festa instead, which is like a mini fair. This year we are doing it because we are celebrating the church’s 100th year.”

It’s been a year of celebrations, in fact, all culminating in last Saturday’s event that drew hundreds to the church for food and family fun. Assemblyman Chris Tague also attended and presented church leadership with a proclamation from the New York State Assembly.

Over the past 12 months, there have been a number of events honoring the church’s centennial.

“We have done various events since Oct. 27, 2017, to celebrate the 100th anniversary,” Nunziato said. “We had a Mass to kick it off, to celebrate the laying of the cornerstone. We also had a corned beef and cabbage dinner, a Mardi Gras, a Mass in June when we brought all past priests back to celebrate and to honor them as past clergy and religious, like nuns and deacons and seminarians.”

Also in honor of the church’s vast background and contributions to the community over the years, parishioners are putting together a book remembering its history.

“We are compiling all the history, pictures of parishioners and memorials of loved ones to create a yearbook that will be given to the parishioners as a keepsake,” Nunziato said.

The yearbook is expected to be completed and ready for printing by the beginning of October. It is hoped that the book will be ready for distribution by Christmas.

The church has also produced other keepsakes like mugs with a painting of the original St. Patrick’s Church, created by artist Cynthia Julian.

The community turned out in force for the Festa last weekend, which featured 26 vendors, including carnival-style rides, crafters, jewelry, woodworkers, the RCS Community Library and more. There was even a health table where participants could get their blood pressure checked, and a booth where the community could get information about breast and prostate cancer.

One of the most popular activities was a cake walk, along with a pie contest with 15 entrants.

Festa co-chair Kim Wullum said the event was for the entire community.

“It is important not only to honor the parish but the community as a whole,” Wullum said. “We have an older parish that has been here for a long time, and we felt it was important to bring the Festa back.”

The event was a labor of love, with some 20 people coming in early Saturday morning to help set up and prepare the site for the evening’s festivities. More work was done in the days leading up to the big day, Wullum said.

The centennial’s final celebratory event of 2018 will be a spaghetti dinner on Oct. 28. The dinner has been an annual event at St. Patrick’s Church for more than 90 years, Boehlke said.