“It’s a wonderful festival and an important part of this parish,” says Louise Delaney of Portland. 

“I’ve done it all my life. I cannot not do it,” says Patricia Gazzelloni of Scarborough.

“I am absolutely ecstatic. This is the greatest,” says Dorothy Gazzelloni Spalter, Patricia’s sister, who lives in South Portland.

The first bazaar was held before St. Peter Church was even completed to serve as a spiritual home to Italian immigrants who had settled in a section of Portland that became known as “Little Italy.” Held in commemoration of the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Feast of St. Rocco, the festival is a celebration of faith, culture, and family. 

“It’s more than a festival; it is a witness to the faith that built this parish, the faith that has sustained it, and the faith that can move each of us closer to God,” said Bishop James Ruggieri, who celebrated a Mass at St. Peter Church during the bazaar.

“It’s so entrenched with the church itself, with St. Peter’s tradition, with the Italian American tradition, the Italian tradition of the church,” says Nancy Taliento Goodwin. “I came as a child 70 plus years ago. It’s a tradition that just continues on.”

Many, like Goodwin, have attended and, in some cases, volunteered at the festival since they were children. They remember the days when prizes were not cash or trinkets but household goods.

“My aunts would always be at the spinning wheel, and the people who ran the wheel would spend the whole year picking up toasters, irons, all these little things, and gather them, and that was the prize. You got to pick what you wanted. If you won, you would be coming home with a toaster. And when you’re 10, you think you’ve hit the motherload,” says Carla Ciampi Thurston of Portland. “They used to have a dime thing. If you threw a dime in a glass, you could keep the glass. We had a whole cabinet full of St. Peter’s glasses.”

“When I was a kid, they used to have turtle races. And it was awesome to win a can of corn, a can of peas,” says Vincent Grosso of Gray.

There was also the greased pole, which, in those early years, would net someone a whole salami or provolone if they managed to climb all the way to the top.

The festival still features old-fashioned carnival games as well as live music and lots of food, from pasta to pizza to Italian pastry. During the week leading up the bazaar, dozens of volunteers gather in the church hall to make thousands of cookies.

“We bake 13,000 cookies: the round lemon cookies, round anise cookies, and then we also make an anise cookie that is filled with chocolate chips, walnuts, grape preserves, and cherries,” says Goodwin, known as the cookie coordinator or cookie quarterback. “We’ll also make 3,000 cannoli and 4,000 pizzelles.”

As you might imagine, making that many cookies is no small task, but the volunteers have perfected it. There are folks who make the cookies, shape the cookies, bake the cookies, frost the cookies, and finally add sprinkles on top.

“I love being with everybody. It’s just so much fun. It’s togetherness,” says Lucy Sesto, who was busy shaping dough into cookie-sized balls.

“It’s the people, the people. Everybody gets along well. Everybody knows each other and they all come together,” says Antoinette Nappi, who has volunteered at the bazaar for decades.

“It’s a family affair. There were four generations of us here this morning,” says Elizabeth Nappi Moran, Antoinette’s daughter. “It’s a lot of camaraderie. I love the smell, the Italian music. It’s just a lot of fun. It brings back a lot of memories.”

“It’s a great community feeling. My family was very connected to the church and so are we, my husband and I. We just love it. We love seeing the people, and we love to help the church in whatever way we can,” says Mary Ann Foley of Portland.

“This whole week is just our community coming together,” says Becky Mitchell, the longtime cookie baker. “Even if you’re not family, it feels like family.”