Festa di Santa Rosalia set back by yet another date change

The Festa di Santa Rosalia, commonly known as the 18^th Avenue Feast, will go on, but not during the week that many Bensonhurst residents wanted.

Organizers and Community Board (CB) 11 were hoping for a run date of August 14-25 – one week earlier – in order to avoid ending on Labor Day Weekend. They put in the formal request in late 2013, but it wasn’t until now that the mayor’s office formally rejected their application.

The 11-day festival is now scheduled to start, as it did last year, on the third Thursday of August, which falls this year on August 21.

“I’m disappointed that the Street Activity Permit Office didn’t take the board’s recommendation into consideration,” said CB 11 District Manager Elias-Pavia of the last-minute decision to deny the date-change. “This change was something that we, the board, and the organizers agree upon, so it’s upsetting.”

Elias-Pavia said that, while the Street Activity Permit Office advised the board that they were not changing the dates, the Figli di Santa Rosalia has already begun circulating fliers promoting the festival’s mid-August debut.

The desired change in the festival’s annual permit request, announced by board Chairperson William Guarinello at the board’s March meeting, saw the summer staple running earlier in order to better accommodate not only residents but also businesses and city workers.

In the past, Guarinello explained, there have been complaints about mounting trash at the street fair, as well as about the extended vehicular closure of the strip, which hurt some of the small businesses along the thoroughfare, who lost business in a busy time for them, right before the new school year.

Therefore, he said, the board worked with the festival’s organizers, the Figli di Santa Rosalia, to meet in the middle, bumping the event up to mid-August. This would therefore avoid a Labor Day weekend end-date, which, Guarinello noted, left the streets draped in trash, due to Sanitation Department workers being off from work for the holiday.

The earlier time slot would have meant immediate clean-up and, according to the board, less of a traffic concern as many Bensonhurst residents are still on summer vacations.

Elias-Pavia has even written to Mayor Bill de Blasio, on behalf of CB 11, the Figli di Santa Rosalia and Bensonhurst, urging that he reconsider.

“By ending the Feast prior to Labor Day weekend, this would mitigate the garbage conditions left on the Saturday evening. The Department of Sanitation does not work on Sunday or Monday, and all of the garbage generated sits on the 18^th Avenue commercial corridor until Tuesday morning,” Elias-Pavia wrote in the letter, stressing that, while she understands the board is advisory in nature, the alterations to the annual event would be a win-win.

No matter the outcome, she said, the board has some talking to do.

“The permit is currently in there for August 23,” Elias-Pavia said, disheartened, “but, I have to say that when the board reconvenes, I think there will be a discussion moving forward on the board’s role in regards to these kinds of activities.”