St. Barts Gears Up For Annual Italian Festival In Scotch Plains

SCOTCH PLAINS, NJ — The St. Bartholomew/UNICO Italian Festival has been a Scotch Plains staple for the past 48 years.

The annual Labor Day Italian Feast is back this year, once again honoring San Nicola di Bari — the patron saint of the town of Montazzoli, Italy. This has been an annual tradition since 1974.

Besides the Italian classics like pizza, pasta, zeppoles, clams, mussels and calzones, the festival will include nightly live music, rides and games.

The festival stretches all weekend long — from Saturday, Sept. 3 to Monday, Sept. 5.

A 50/50 raffle will also be drawn on Labor Day. Last year, the raffle went over $63,000.

According to the festival's website, when the festival first started in 1974, 200 pounds of chopped meat for meatballs, 170 pounds of hamburger meat and 1,200 pounds of sausage were ordered for the event. And this was just a small portion of the total amount of food.

Members of UNICO and the parish community spent weeks preparing various Italian dishes for the festival, according to the website. While the food for the feast is no longer prepared by the community and chopped meat no longer costs 98 cents a pound, the festival will still include tons of delicious Italian foods and is a weekend full of entertainment.

One of the many highlights of the weekend is a mass celebrated in Italian, which takes place on Saturday at 5 p.m., followed by a procession to honor San Nicola di Bari. The procession is accompanied by Italian music.

Proceeds from the feast benefit three organizations:

• St. Bartholomew the Apostle Church
• The St. Bartholomew Academy
• The charitable causes of the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Chapter of UNICO

The festival will take place at 2032 Westfield Ave in Scotch Plains.

You can learn more about the 48th annual festival here and check out the full lineup of bands performing here.

Have a news tip? Email remy.samuels@patch.com.