75th Anniversary of Our Lady of Mount Carmel

What do you get when you cook up 200 pounds of ground beef, 240 pounds of sausage, 500 pounds of onions, 2300 pounds of veal hearts and over 4000 pounds of dough?  Enough delectable food to serve at the 75th anniversary of the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Dozens of volunteers from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church have been working arduously to prepare for the annual event, which begins Thursday, July 11th through Sunday, July 14th .(from 5 to 10 pm on most evenings). The food preparation is a massive undertaking which utilizes the two permanent kitchens in the church hall as well as an industrial stove that is temporarily installed. Sausage and peppers, soffritto and fried dough are among the feast favorites.

“This is the biggest event of the summer,” said Ginny Ciochetti, chairperson of the cooking committee. She says one of her fondest memories as a kid was when her nonnie (grandmother) let her sample a piece of fried dough for free. She recounted her family’s close ties with the church. Both of her grandfathers helped break ground to build Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and her dad was one of the church’s first altar boys.

Pastor Fr. Frederick M. Aniello says the 75th anniversary will be special, because he will be joined on Sunday by Archbishop Henry J. Mansell and other priests from across the Archdiocese to celebrate the noon Mass, which commemorates the devotion that the Blessed Virgin Mary has to those who are committed to her.

After the Mass, there will be a procession of the Our Lady of Mount Carmel statute and a float featuring eighth grader Alyssa Famiglietti who will portray the Blessed Mother. The procession will travel through an arch located behind the church, which was permanently installed and donated by Pisani Steel. Two smaller temporary arches have also been erected by parishioner Bob Ferri for the occasion. 

According to Jeffery Santopietro, chairperson of the event, every year the committee tries to think of ways to outdo the previous year’s feast. Considering the Archbishop’s visit, the

procession, and the new arches, he thinks they will exceed people’s expectations again this year. “It is a lot of work planning the feast, but I’ve been doing this for five years, and I am always amazed by the number of volunteers, some in their 70’s and 80’s and 90’s, who turn out to help. There are so many people to thank,” he said.