Volunteers make thousands of cookies in preparation for the St. Peter's Italian Bazaar in Portland
Italian flags and banners are flying. Crosswalks are painted white, red, and green. And there is a hint of the licorice scent of anise in the air. They all add up to one thing: it must be time for the annual St. Peter’s Italian Bazaar.
“I always say this is my favorite week of the summer. It has been my whole life,” says Becky Mitchell of Portland.
The bazaar, an old-fashioned neighborhood street festival, is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2025. A fundraiser for St. Peter Parish, it is held annually in August, near the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Feast of Saint Rocco.
Putting on the bazaar takes dozens of volunteers, many of whom have been attending or helping at the festival all of their lives.
“I’ve been doing this for at least 40 or 50 years,” says Antoinette Nappi of Portland. “I’ve done everything. I’ve volunteered at the bazaar. I had my own booth when I was able to do it. I enjoyed every minute of it."
“I'm not 100, but I came as a child 70-plus years ago. It's a tradition that just continues,” says Nancy Goodwin of Portland. “It’s so entrenched with the church itself, with St. Pater’s tradition, with the Italian American tradition of the church.”
The bazaar features old-fashioned carnival games, live music, and lots of food, including homemade pizza, pasta, and Italian cookies.
“Tuesday and Wednesday, we bake 13,000 cookies: the round lemon cookies, round anise cookies, and then we also make an anise cookie that is filled with chocolate chips, walnuts, grape preserves, and cherries,” says Goodwin, known as the cookie coordinator or cookie quarterback. “We’ll also make 3,000 cannoli and 4,000 pizzelles.”
As you might imagine, making 13,000 cookies is no small task, but the volunteers – about 100 in all – have perfected it. There are folks who mix the dough. Others who roll it into balls. Then there are the bakers, the frosters, the folks who put sprinkles on top, and finally the volunteers who package them in sets of six, ready for sale.
“Everybody knows everything, but some people like to do some things better, so they can go and do whatever they want,” says Goodwin.
The volunteers include some newcomers, as well as some folks who have been doing it for a decade or more. They say the secret to their baking success and to the success of the bazaar itself lies in the strong sense of community found at St. Peter Parish.
“I love being with everybody. It’s just so much fun. It's togetherness,” says Lucy Sesto, who was busy shaping dough into cookie-sized balls.
“This is my first year, and I'm really enjoying it. I’m having a wonderful time,” says Louise Delaney of Portland, who was also busy rounding dough into balls.
“This whole week is just our community coming together. It just shows you what we can do as a group. And it feels very much like family. Even if you're not family, it feels like family. It's a great, great week to be here,” says Mitchell, the long-time baker.
“It's a great community feeling. My family was very connected to the church and so are we, my husband and I. We just love it. We love seeing the people, and we love to help the church in whatever way we can,” says Mary Ann Foley, who was filling Italian loaf cookies.
About 50 to 60 volunteers worked for eight to nine hours on Tuesday, August 5, making the cookies, and more volunteers will be back on Wednesday, spending hours doing the same. Lemon cookies and the Italian loaf cookies were the first to get done, with the anise ones to follow.
The cookies will be for sale at the bazaar, which is being held on Federal Street in Portland, in front of St. Peter Church, on Friday, August 8, and Saturday, August 9, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Jim Ciampi and his seven-piece dance band will perform on Friday night, and Dan Fontaine & Memphis Sun Mafia Band, along with Jimmy Mazz, will perform on Saturday night. On Saturday, all are also invited to join Bishop James Ruggieri for a Mass at St. Peter Church at 4 p.m.
