La Festa Italiana

Who doesn’t enjoy a feast? Well, this guy is all about the walk and talk while throwing massive quantity’s of tasty vittles down the hatch from booth to booth walst pounding brewskies in the street, yeah baby.
The Italians are coming, the Italians are coming. Yes, they’ve landed on 6^th & Brunswick Street in Jersey City and the fun has just begun. The Holy Rosary church and their staff really put on one the best Feasts around. They bring the community together the way it used to be and should be today. Every where you turn you’ll notice friendly greetings from relatives to neighbors to long lost friends. One of the few places you can sit back and let the little ones run amok (well not the really little ones, but 7 yr olds plus will be safe to venture about).
Carnival games of chance along with a ride section for the kids. This year a mechanical bull is available to herniate disc after disc for those above 30, lol. The church sponsors adult games of chance in the back off the street for the gamblers amongst us.
The street food is why this guy comes. Italian this and that from multiple vendors including other options ranging the gamet from the usual to the unique. One of my favorites has to be the Maple Sugar cotton candy from Maple Magic. Of course the sausage & peppers and cheese steaks and Italian sammichs kick butt, I love the gyros as well. All portions are ample and quite tasty. You will love the variety.
50/50’s $ go off just about every hour with a new winner. Last years mega ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ total was over $ 10k. The proceeds go to the church, so even if you don’t actually win you still win.
Music fills the air from the opening to the end each of the 5 days. A DJ rocks the house constantly in between live acts upon the mainstage. Always a nice collage of groups sharing the stage daily.
In this transient world we live in it’s easy to miss out on what lies before your eyes in your neighborhood that you’ve forgotten or passed by. The jubilant sounds of the kids laughter, music to shake your booty, food to fill thy gullet, spirits of choice to jolly up and the warmth of family and friends coming together to support a good cause.
What are you waiting for, it only comes once a year like the Easter Bunny. So come and get your love! I’ll save you beer and bite, lol.

Best week of the year in Jersey City. Our whole family looks forward to it all year… the wine & Peaches is AMAZING as are the rice balls, the mozzarella sandwiches, cannoli, and just the great vibe and neighborhood fun! we Love love love la Festa and will probably go every night!

This year La Festa Italiana is from August 12 to August 16. This feast belongs to Holy Rosary Church. Holy Rosary is the first Italian church in the state of NJ that has been around for 130 years.
The zeppoli’s last night were AMAZING. Go get some. There is a vendor there from NYC called Sunday Gravy. I had the mac and cheese with Sunday Gravy it was delicious. The sunday Gravy is really good.
Gia’s is there with their gelato.
Delenio’s is there making meatball sliders which were a HUGE hit last year. So good! I’ll have to go back today for those.
White Star has 3 beer, wine and spirits tents. 2 in the front and 1 in the back. There is a tent that sells peaches and wine. There is a frozen drinks stand but I can’t remember if it was virgin drinks or not. Either way the Pina Colada smelled delicious.
The back where the popular money wheel is has tons of desserts and coffee.
Mozz Boss is there. An antipasto stand is there that looks delicious.
Great place for kids. There are game stands and rides. I’ve been coming to this feast since I was in my mother’s womb.

Jersey City’s best street fair! All the people associated with the fair are friendly, helpful and energetic which makes the atmosphere seem like a nightly party of old friends.
Though the emphasis is on the Italian fare (rice balls, sausage and peppers, zeppoles) there’s a wide variety of things to eat; enough variety for my husband and I to have dinner at La Festa every night, which we do. There is at least one bar (set up by White Star) that serves liquor in addition to beer and wine.
The fair’s wine and peaches is dangerously delicious and should definitely be sampled.
The fair includes a number of vendors (some selling hand made items and others selling light-​up toys and t-​shirts), games and bounce houses for kids.
Behind the church you’ll find a number of large tables with chairs, homemade desserts and coffee being sold, a bar (which may only serve beer and wine) and a money wheel.
There’s live music many (if not all) of the nights as well as a nightly raffle.
The fair definitely gets crowded but it’s generally a crowd of happy people eating delicious food.
Things to be aware of when visiting: because it gets so crowded it’s difficult to navigate with a stroller. The rice balls line is ALWAYS long and they sometimes run out. The wine and peaches is highly addictive.

Hands down the best Italian festival around. Lots of great food and an intimate atmosphere. Live Music and great people. You’ll definitely enjoy a night or two here.

Went here last night with my children & a friend. First of all it’s a bit far from public transport & parking is tough in this area. This street fair is very small — a total of about 3 blocks. There are the standard street fair food vendors including lemonade, sausage & pepper heroes, zeppoles, & of course mazarepas. The line for the rice ball vendor spanned a good ½ block but after paying $ 3 for one standard size rice ball my son & our friend rated it only a «C». My little one had an order of meatball sliders for $ 7 — 3 meatball mini sandwiches on garlic knots which he thoroughly enjoyed. They also tried a spicy sausage & pepper sandwich — delicious, & some lemonade $ 6 for a large reusable cupful. All good but nothing out of the ordinary. There is limited seating so it got quite crowded with many people standing & eating in the middle of the street as there were only a limited number of high top pub tables to stand at. There is also a designated seating area with tables & chairs which you can enter from 7^th street, but it was crowded with only a few empty seats scattered at various tables. Entertainment included a marionette show for the kids & a lame band during the time we were there. One block at the end with your standard ripoff carny games, a couple of bouncy houses & a couple of rides completed the fair. The only other thing was a few booths selling tshirts & some other junk. Nothing much to speak of.
Overall as very small street festival with nothing extraordinary. If you are looking to kill an hour this weekend & eat some Italian food & drink some beer or wine with peaches — stop in. Just be prepared for the crowds & limited offerings.
Btw the only thing for a vegetarian to eat is the plain mazarepas & possibly pizza although I’m not sure if the sauce has meat in it.

Wow! I have never been to a street fair with such delicious food. Bravo Holy Rosary! Bravo!

My favorite event of the year! You absolutely must experience the Italian festival at least once for the unbeatable food, fun music and authentic local flair. See you there this August!

I mass-​emailed my friends for a Saturday evening outing, having heard that this festival was «awesome». When I first got there I panicked because it was much smaller than I expected and was worried that it would fail to hold our attention. I was wrong. Somehow I managed to spend 4 hours there and came back the next day.
Yes it was small, crowded, and the stage was strategically in the worst place imaginable, creating an hour-​glass type congestion in the middle of the festival. But the energy was great and it really felt like a community experience as opposed to an excuse for people to go out and eat/​drink. I really enjoyed seeing people a little older than me bumping into their neighbors and enjoying the evening and company.
The food was awesome, as to be expected. And again, it wasn’t just the quality, per se, but the sense of community. I’ll never admit that I prefer my grandmother’s rice balls, because the woman serving hers has been an institution of the community for years. The lines were long, but moved fast, and everyone took pride in their craftsmanship.
Check out Joel M’s review below for pics of the meatball sliders on garlic knots. Those were from Delenio’s and were flat out amazing. I’ve heard rumors that they’ll be adding them to their regular menu. If they don’t, I’ll be organizing some kind of Unilocal Protest.
Like I said, I had a great time. Bought a bunch of Tshirts from a very friendly guy who had great designs. The prices were off the charts cheap (5 dollars!). My only gripe, and this is something that my friends didn’t agree with so consider me an outlier, is that I found the beer overpriced. 4 dollars for a cup of coors light feels wrong. I’ll chalk it up to a desire for people NOT to get drunk, and that’s fine. But while I’ll overpay for a sausage and peppers for the experience, beer is beer, and I was just looking to quench my thirst.
I also think one weekend day should start earlier. There was no way my family was going to commute to JC for a 4 pm start. I would have loved to have brought my grandmother.

My favorite festival in JC, hands down. 6^th street closes for about 4 blocks and is lined with all sorts of great food, booze, games, and live music. The meatball sliders at the Delenio’s stand are not to be missed and who could forget the rice ball ladies? There are also zeppoles, arepas, sausage sandwiches, broccoli rabe sandwiches, and much more. Beers are around $ 5 on average and the limoncello shots are 2 for 5, so be sure to get that in as well. Great time for the whole family, I look forward to the next one.

We look forward to this festival, which supports Holy Rosary Church, every year. The food is wonderful — wine with peaches, antipasto, mozzarella made in front of you, pastas and brick oven pizza, along with more usual street fair foods. Volunteers from the church make rice balls and zeppoli, and create an Italian Café (open to all) in the backyard of the church. Each night has live music, and the festival attracts both the old school born-​in-​JC folk, newer residents, teens and families. So worth a visit.

Mike’s bottom line
Good food, live music, local pubs selling their food and beer and an outdoor beer garden area… does it get much better then that?
Full review
Great local festival in the Hamilton park area of jersey city. Its actually pretty small for a festival, it only spans a block, but its still great to have all the classic treats.
The food is great, from Italian rice balls, brick oven pizza made on the spot, Canolis and of course Zeppoles!!! A little something for everyone.
Also any even when you can be outside and have a beer in your hand makes me happy! Or peach wine if you tried the special booth service up the wine with cut peaches in them.
They also set up a nice little outdoor beer garden behind the church, you could totally miss it if your not paying attention as you have to go threw the ally of the church or walk in via 7^th street, even though the festivities are on 6ths, but totally worth it, you can try to grab a table with some friends, just enjoy the day and have some food and beer in a nice out of the way section of JC.
Great annual Festival to attention, this year (2013) was there 110^th festival anniversary

Think of this as a San Gennaro Festival but a lot smaller. Being of Italian Heritage, this is a nice little fair with something for everyone.
I came here last night with the Mrs. after getting off work. It was pretty crowded but we were able to split up and get a sausage sandwich for me while my wife waited on the extra long line for the zeppoles. The wait for the zeppoles was definitely worth it, They were large, crispy, not greasy, frankly the best I have ever had.
There were several vendors at the fair, most with Italian items, my favorite had to be the t-​shirt vendor, with shirts that said «It is gravy, not sauce» and «Got Zeppole» complete with sugar on the front to name a couple. (See my posted pictures on this)
Also, they had a stand that served wine with peaches (brings back lots of memories of my grandfather) and homemade limoncello, along with a beer truck that served hard alcoholic drinks as well.
It was a nice little evening out, can’t wait to go back next year.
# 200 :) Finally.