Arches Up For Fort Lee's Annual Saint Rocco Feast

If you’re driving toward Main Street on Martha Washington Way this week, don’t be surprised, and there’s no need to check your calendar. Those telltale arches you’re driving under are indeed an indication that the Saint Rocco Italian American Mutual Aid Society of Fort Lee’s annual Saint Rocco Feast is coming soon. The arches are just up a little early this year.

“The arches are up!” wrote one person on Saint Rocco’s Facebook page.

A source told Patch they went up especially early this year for the five-day festival that takes places as usual in early August, possibly out of concern that George Washington Bridge traffic would be bad due to the much-reported construction project on the Alexander Hamilton Bridge on the Cross Bronx Expressway.

But the festival—this year’s is the 83rd annual version of the feast—is Aug. 8 to Aug. 12.

The nonprofit organization, formed in 1927 by a group of Italian-American immigrants from the southern part of Italy, has been organizing the event in honor of its patron saint since two years after the group’s founding.

The feast was originally three days long, according to the organization, but it proved so popular that the society turned it into a five-day celebration.

A mass procession of the statue of the saint—or the “running of the statue,” as it has come to be known locally—through the streets of Fort Lee and down Main Street, with the statue coming to a rest at the church, is central to the event.

Funds raised from the festival is—as they have been for 83 years—donated “to less fortunate people and organizations throughout our community, the state of New Jersey and the world,” according to the Saint Rocco Society.

Information on becoming a sponsor or signing up as a vendor is available on the Saint Rocco website, which also promises to provide more information as the event draws closer.

To read about and see pictures from last year’s festival, . For additional photos of last year’s opening night, , and mark your calendars for Aug. 8 to Aug. 12.