Ferragosto in Belmont
A vendor selling pastries at the Ferragosto event in Belmont.
Like most neighborhoods, street fairs are commonplace throughout the year as different holidays call for celebration. In Belmont, Bronx, the Ferragosto festival takes place August along Arthur Avenue for a week, perfectly exemplifying the presence of the Italian community. Ferragosto, which translates from the Italian “August holiday,” takes place on August 15, but is generally considered the marker of an extended period of leisure and festivity. The Italians of Belmont have brought this tradition over from their home country, and centered the festival around 187th St. and Arthur Avenue during September.
Ferragosto in Belmont has been described as a sort of “neighborhood reunion.” The festival is essentially indicative of the degree to which the Italian community is active and present in Belmont, and the tradition set by years and years of sponsorship within Belmont (and sometimes outside of it) has created an event that many people around New York City look forward to every year.
In the festival, which takes place annually, merchants line the streets and give out samples of their food (much for which Belmont is renowned for,) and people have the chance to buy many products they may otherwise not have been around the market to purchase. Bakers and butchers sell and make their foods along Arthur Avenue, where neighborhood residents and those who may visit from other boroughs and parts of the city get a taste of authentic Italian breads, pastries, meats, and pastas. Vendors pull out grills and tables, offering visitors roast suckling pig, grilled sausages cannolis, gelato, and much more. Other attractions include games, the selling of things other than fine Italian-American cuisine (such as toys, clothes, and handmade items,) and live entertainment. While Ferragosto may look a lot like festivals in other neighborhoods, the food is what makes Ferragosto a mainly Italian celebration. However, the festival is by no means an ethnically restricted or closed event. Tourists from nearby states and all around New York visit Belmont to take part of the fun, games, and eating every September.
Ferragosto allows for the cultural and ethnic celebration of community members.
While all are welcome to the neighborhood during Ferragosto, the street fair is a chance for those of Italian descent in Belmont to further acknowledge the common heritage and history present within the community. What one family-run restaurant caters to its customers, another just as fervently sells to its own, and while the two stand independently from each other as establishments, there is a shared camaraderie present in the air, with Italian culture at its root.
The yearly Ferragosto fair is sponsored mostly by the neighborhood establishments, but there are even sponsors outside of Belmont who contribute to the cultural celebration.The festival is known to most of the Italian, and non-Italian community all over New York, and its popularity is said to increase every year, since its first festival in 1997. It is probably safest to bet that most of the visitors attend for a taste of authentic Italian food, and a picture of a community still very much in touch with its origins.
