The St. James Festival event on Allen Street on Saturday featured authentic Italian food and performances. P-J photos by Jordan W. Patterson

Over 50 years of Italian heritage returned to Allen Street on Saturday. The Festa Di San Giacoma, which means the St. James Festival, and commonly referred to as the Italian Festival, was again kicking the smell of Italian sausage, peppers and onions throughout the city.

The St. James Parish of Jamestown has hosted the event for over 50 years and in its current capacity for over 20 years, according to Rev. Darrell Duffy.

Proceeds from the event are given directly back to the church to support its operations and outreach programs throughout the city.

Duffy praised the event and what it means for Jamestown.

“Jamestown itself has a strong Italian heritage,” Duffy said. “How privileged we are to offer authentic food.”

The annual festival features authentic, homemade Italian food. Duffy emphasized the importance of having homemade food as opposed to mass produced store bought food. The festival also included live musical and dance performances as well as a raffle and basket drawing.

As for the authentic food, the list of available food included Italian sausage and bread, meatball sandwiches, pasta with meatballs, pasta fagoli, Sicilian style pizza, tripe and arancini.

“It’s really great. You don’t want to miss out on this,” he said.

The reverend said people from all over the country return to Jamestown for the festival every year to celebrate their heritage.

“They come home to Jamestown to be at this event and to be with their family,” he said.

Duffy praised the number of volunteers who run the event. He noted that not all of the volunteers are members of the parish and are people who are simply celebrating the event. Additionally, St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and the Knights of Columbus Council 926 of Jamestown, among others, had booths set up within the festival.

As for how many people normally attend the event, Duffy said the festival usually sells around 800 servings of arancini, an Italian dish.

“So we get at least that many,” Duffy said laughing. “We get a good crowd.”

Joe Palermo, a member of the parish and festival volunteer, reiterated that the event isn’t exclusively a religious gathering. Palermo has lived in Jamestown his entire life, and has been a member of the St. James Parish since he was baptized. Palermo is also of Italian descent, so for him the festival was all about tradition.

“It’s a traditional thing,” he said. “It’s been here for years and years and it seems to get better every year.”

Palermo is a retired teacher former Southwestern Central School and said the event allowed him visit former students at the festival on Saturday. While the festival for Palermo was about Italian heritage, religion and tradition, he said it offered much more than that.

“It’s a community thing,” Palermo said. “It’s not just a religious thing. It’s a community event and a lot of people look forward to it.”

“It’s a gathering place for people,” he continued.