San Gennaro Feast Has Become A Hampton Bays Tradition

Twelve years ago, Simone Scotto was eager to find a way to bolster the Hampton Bays community with a special event.

That’s how the San Gennaro Feast of the Hamptons was born.

Scotto, the owner of Scotto’s Pork Store in Hampton Bays, talked about his vision during a lunchtime sitdown at his Main Street store at the beginning of August.

“The reason why I wanted to start the festival is because I thought Hampton Bays needed a party and family atmosphere rather than just a basic carnival,” he said. “I thought that bringing food and entertainment and a carnival to Hampton Bays in the fall would draw more people to the area.”

He was certainly correct.

The feast has been a success from the start. It is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year — a milestone that was supposed to be reached two years ago, before COVID disrupted those plans. The feast will be back this September 24 and 25 after a two-year hiatus and could draw its biggest crowd yet. The last feast brought more than 20,000 visitors to the area behind town, by the railroad station, where the festival booths are set up.

The San Gennaro Feast traces its lineage back to feasts that began to be a tradition in New York City many years ago, when Italian immigrants were looking for a way to stay connected to their heritage and culture. Of course the tradition originated in Italy, Naples to be specific, in the 1600s. San Gennaro is the patron saint of Naples.

Hampton Bays resident Phil Forte, who splits his time between his home here and one in Florida, is a founding board member for the San Gennaro Feast, which earned 501(c)(3) nonprofit status in recent years. He is the grand marshal of this year’s feast, and while he is long retired, has remained deeply involved in the planning of the event, which the organizers — including Scotto, Forte, Skidmore’s Sports and Styles owner Rick Martel, and more — say is a rather intense labor of love.

Forte says he remembers taking a trip into Manhattan every year with his family when he was growing up to attend the San Gennaro Feast there, which he said would last for more than a week. Over the years, fewer and fewer people remained committed to making the trek into the city for that event, which is why he’s glad it’s become a tradition locally.

The feast is good, old-fashioned fun, with something for everyone, of all ages. There’s the food, of course, which is the main event. Scotto said he produces roughly 500 pounds of sausage for the feast, and of course there are many other food vendors with their products on display, from homemade Italian pastries to pizza, pasta and meatballs, as well as offerings from local restaurants and vendors. Scotto said there will be more seafood offerings than usual this year. And there’s always several food eating contests as well: people can enter competitions around eating zeppolis, cannoli, pizza and meatballs.

There are carnival rides for children, always a big hit, and a stage that is barely empty for a moment during the festival, with plenty of different acts coming to perform. Italian singer Franco Corso has been a big hit at the feast over the past 10 years, Forte said.

The San Gennaro Feast is not only a chance to have a good time, but it’s a great way to give back to the community. Every year, the feast donates money to local charities, including the Coalition for Women’s Cancers at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, Maureen’s Haven, the food pantry at St. Rosalie’s Roman Catholic Church, the Dominican Sisters and more, and there’s also a San Gennaro Feast Scholarship handed out every year to a local student.

Scotto, Martel and Forte said the Hampton Bays Fire Department, Chamber of Commerce, Southampton Town Board and the town highway and parks departments have been instrumental partners in putting the feast together every year.

The three organizers all agree that they’d love to engage more help from community members in handling the enormous task of putting the event on, both in the planning stages and the logistics of carrying it all out when the festival is happening.

“It’s a big success, but it’s hard for eight people to maintain,” Scotto said, referring to the number of people on the board who put the event together.

Another standout feature and tradition of the feast is the statue of San Gennaro that belongs to the Scotto family and gets a special spotlight during the feast. During the rest of the year, that statue sits in a visible place of prominence in the pork store for customers to see.

Celebrating Italian heritage and food, and giving the community a chance to come together and enjoy themselves on an early fall day have made all the work required to put it together over the past decade-plus worth it, Scotto said.

“The food is obviously the biggest part, but at the end of the day, I enjoy watching people come down with their families, have fun, and patronize local businesses,” he said. “It’s beautiful, and the entertainment is truly phenomenal. We’re truly blessed with that.”