“Everyone Went to the Festa!”: The Feast of St. Michael in Saratoga Springs

Tuesday, September 27, 2022

At the Saratoga Springs History Museum

Speaker: Mary Ann Fitzgerald, Saratoga Springs City Historian

Starting in 1914, the Feast of St. Michael was celebrated in late September in Saratoga Springs’ Dublin neighborhood, now known as the Beekman Street Arts District. Originally a benefit for the Principessa Elena Society, a community resource for newly arrived Italian Americans that still exists today, the “Festa” grew into a widely beloved celebration that embraced live music, plentiful cuisine at Dublin’s numerous Italian restaurants, and even fireworks on the outskirts of town. This presentation is based on interviews for the West Side Oral Narrative Project and includes priceless public and family photos ranging from the 1920s–1990s, and newspaper clippings going back to 1914. 

Funding generously provided by the Alfred Z. Solomon Charitable Trust.