Bensonhurst's 18th Avenue will once again fill with rides, food stalls and the smell of fried dough starting Aug. 20, as the Feast of Santa Rosalia kicks off its 10-day run between 68th Street and Bay Ridge Parkway. This year's grand marshals are singer Sal Valentinetti and Rosemarie Sparacio, co-host of the internet cooking show Pina's Kitchen, who were announced by Danielle Caminiti on Instagram.
The feast, also known as the 18th Avenue Feast, is one of Brooklyn's longest-running neighborhood traditions, according to Brooklyn Eagle. Anthony Sciarratta, who handles public relations for the feast, said the Santa Rosalia feast is one of Brooklyn's most cherished traditions. The festival features rides, live music, games, drinks and food along the corridor for the full 10 days.
Valentinetti, who competed on America's Got Talent in 2016, also performed the Theme from New York, New York during the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. Sparacio said she feels honored to celebrate her Sicilian heritage because both her parents are from Palermo, and she cooks traditional Italian and Sicilian dishes with her mother, Pina. Carlo Scissura, a member of the Feast of Santa Rosalia Committee, said Bensonhurst and 18th Avenue become the center of Sicily and Palermo in New York during the annual Festa di Santa Rosalia.
Cannoli Contest and Sicilian Roots
Among the feast's signature events is the annual cannoli eating contest, sponsored by Il Colosseo, Robert DeFalco Realty and Villabate Alba Bakery. Villabate Alba, located at 18th Avenue and 70th Street, was founded in 1979 by Sicilian immigrants Angelo and Emanuele Alaimo from the town of Villabate, adding an authentic thread of Sicilian craftsmanship to the festival's food offerings, per the Brooklyn Eagle.
The saint at the center of it all, Santa Rosalia, is the patron saint of Palermo. According to tradition, her bones were carried through the city in procession in 1624, an event associated with the end of a plague there. Brooklyn's late-August timing for the celebration lines up with the annual Sicilian pilgrimage to Mount Pellegrino overlooking Palermo, where the saint died in 1166, according to At the Table with Tony — even though it falls outside her official feast day in July.
Procession and Mass Close Out the Feast
The festival concludes Aug. 30, 2026, at 18th Avenue and 72nd Street with a religious procession beginning at 2 p.m. that day. The procession ends at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church at 7201 15th Avenue, where a Mass starts at 3 p.m.
The 2026 feast marks the 52nd year of the celebration on 18th Avenue, which celebrated its golden 50th anniversary in 2024, according to The Brooklyn Home Reporter. The 10-block stretch of 18th Avenue hosting the feast was also officially co-named Cristoforo Colombo Boulevard in 1987, following a city proposal backed by the Federation of Italian-American Organizations, per BKLYNER. That same corridor also serves as the host route for the Brooklyn Columbus Day Parade, established in 1981 by the same federation.
A Changing Neighborhood, A Constant Tradition
Bensonhurst looked very different when the feast began. Census and city planning records cited by NYC.gov show the neighborhood's population was roughly 80% Italian-American in the 1980s, but has since shifted into a multicultural community where Asian residents comprise 43.9% and White residents comprise 34.8% as of 2020. Community Board 11 District Manager Marnee Elias-Pavia has noted that even as Bensonhurst has evolved into a diverse neighborhood, the 10-day festival gives residents of all backgrounds a chance to share in Italian-American culture, food and music.
The feast has not always run without interruption. It was fully canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic before resuming on 18th Avenue in August 2021, a return that the Brooklyn Eagle described at the time as a key milestone of neighborhood gathering. Public safety and logistical oversight for the festival area continue to be managed jointly by Community Board 11 and the NYPD's 62nd Precinct, whose leadership and officers hold an annual kickoff dinner with organizers at Il Colosseo Restaurant.
