This week Hoboken is preparing to celebrate an epochal event: the 100th Anniversary of the Hoboken Italian Festival, the great feast in devotion to Our Lady of Martyrs, organized by the largest community of Apulian emigrants in North America.
This year the Festival will be held on the suggestive Pier A, with a program full of emotions, traditions and news.
Among the most anticipated guests will be Buddy Valastro, famous protagonist of the TV series Cake Boss and for years linked to the molfettese community of Hoboken. Buddy will be present at the Festival and – as announced – will bring a special surprise dedicated to the Centenary.
A few years ago Buddy was appointed Honorary President of the Society Madonna dei Martiri of Hoboken, a recognition that bears witness to his deep bond with tradition and community.
Buddy Valastro has strong Italian roots: Sicilian father, Apulian mother of Altamura. His wife Lisa Belgiumvine is the daughter of Mauro and Gloria, both emigrated to Molfettesi.
At the base of the family there is the legendary grandfather Franco, today 96 years old, who lives in New Jersey and told his story in the book “Vita di un Emigrate”.
The Association Oll Muvi – I Love Molfetta has organized years ago a great reception event for Buddy and Lisa in Molfetta, with artistic direction of Roberto Pansini, a reference figure for Italian communities in North America.
The celebrations will take place from Thursday 10th to Sunday 13th September, with:
• Live music every night• Live music every night Two bands from MolfettaDio Lovuole Band (third consecutive year) and The Strange Sensation (return after 15 years)• Two music groups arriving from Molfetta• Bankers, handicrafts and quality food
The most anticipated moment will be, as always, the Day of the Feast, Saturday, September 12, when the Society Madonna dei Martiri will carry in procession the simulacrum of Our Lady in the streets of Hoboken. A rite that for a century combines generations, families and stories of migration.
This year, however, there will be great news: no fireworks, but a drone show that will illuminate the sky above Hoboken with Manhattan skyline as a frame. A scenographic debut that promises to become memorable.
Today Hoboken is called “the garden of New Jersey”, a place of beauty and opportunity a few minutes from Manhattan. Here, in the 1950s-60s, more than 20,000 Molfettesi emigrants lived, a compact community, proud and deeply devoted to Our Lady of Martyrs. From that core was born the largest Italian event in New Jersey, a cultural heritage that today represents a bridge between USA and Puglia, between past and future, between memory and tourism of the roots.
The Centenary is not only a feast: it is a story of belonging. It is the story of those who left, of those who built a new life in America and of those who, from Italy, continue to guard traditions. It is a hug between two worlds that recognize themselves in the same devotion.
And in this embrace, the presence of Buddy Valastro – with its special surprise – adds an extraordinary symbolic value: a face that unites, a story that speaks of family, roots and Italian pride.
L’articolo Buddy Valastro at the 100th Anniversary Hoboken Italian Festival: a special surprise on Pier A proviene da IlNewyorkese.
