Vivian Catenaccio has lived in Little Italy her entire life, and the Feast of San Gennaro has always been a part of her life. As a young girl she sold soda from the family stand during the celebration. Now she’s the owner of La Mela Restaurant and Mulberry Street Bar and is President of The Feast.

The 11 day festival is back in Manhattan's Little Italy for the 95th year this year after 2020's cancellation due to COVID-19. Preparations began on Monday on Mulberry Street from Houston to Canal Street.

"Everything is just going well, now we need 11 days of nice weather and we are good to go," said Vivian Catenaccio.

Feast Board member Danny Fratta is the fourth generation of his family to run a stand on the corner of Mulberry and Grand. He is famous for his zeppole, delicious deep fried dough balls. His family also runs Vinny’s Nut House, continuing the tradition of his Uncle Vincent Cirelli Sabatino, known as Vinny Peanuts, who died from COVID-19 in April of 2020. He was a mainstay of the feast, which was started by Italian immigrants to pay tribute to the patron Saint of Naples. The feast originally was just a day, but grew into something much bigger.

"This one day, one block party, turned into an 11 day, 12 block long festival that's now been going on for 95 years," said Fratta.

The feast is famous for its religious procession, music, games, and of course, Italian food, including Cannoli. John Delutro owns Cafe Palermo on Mulberry, and expects to fill countless cannoli through the feast. He is hoping the event can give a boost to businesses that are still struggling through the pandemic.

"My rent went up, cheese went up, the cannolis went up, everything went up," said Delutro.

The hope now is that business will pick up in a neighborhood that has changed tremendously over the years. Vivian Catenaccio said they would like to attract New Yorkers, tourists, and folks returning to the old neighborhood.

"We have our three blocks which are Little Italy, we are trying to hold on to that," said Catenaccio.

Find out more about the feast here.