Sparks Will Fly: Columbus Day Festival Promises Historic Show

If you are one of the thousands of visitors who every year comes down to Depot Square in the Village of Tuckahoe to take part in the , rest assured, this year’s event will be no disappointment.

Better yet, if you are lucky enough that this weekend will be your first festival in town, prepare to be amazed.

In addition to all of the usual attractions and festivities that make Tuckahoe’s Columbus Day Festival one of the most highly anticipated local events of the year – the food, concerts, rides and overall great atmosphere – this year’s event will feature something extra special, and never before seen in Westchester. 

Scheduled for around 9 p.m. on Saturday night, festival goers will be treated to a one of a kind light, music and pyrotechnic show, which will take place over, around, and on the very face of the 3-day festival’s center piece: the historic building, which this weekend celebrates its 100^th year anniversary.

Saturday night’s “main event,” which will last approximately 13 minutes, will incorporate both fireworks and a projection light show, during which commemorative images will be projected on the Generoso Pope building using a technique called "video mapping." This type of event has never been done in Westchester before, and according to Chief Pyrotechnitian at Fireworks by Grucci Charlie DeSalvo – whose team will be in charge of the show – will take a four technician team working over 130 man hours to design, erect and discharge, as well as “enough wiring for a two family home.”

Fireworks by Grucci specializes in rooftop pyrotechnics, and according to DeSalvo, Saturday’s show will be one of the first times fireworks will be launched directly from atop a Westchester County building, rooftop or building façade.

“It’s clearly never our feeling going into an event that ‘this is just another show,’” said DeSalvo. “Each program we go on is special. But rest assured, the Generoso Pope building on its 100^th Anniversary shall receive its Grucci pyrotechnic baptism.”

One person sure to have a front row seat to this weekend’s festivities is David Pope, CEO of the Generoso Pope Foundation and great grandson of Generoso Pope, founder of Columbus Day in the United States. Pope has been working closely with the Columbus Day Committee of Eastchester-Tuckahoe in making sure this year’s festival is as big and memorable as ever, starting with finding a way to highlight the event’s centerpiece and a true Village historical landmark, one century old this weekend. 

“The [Generoso Pope] building was the cornerstone of the community years ago when it was a village hall,” said Pope. “It’s also been a court, a library, a post office, a police station, and even a preschool for Tuckahoe students. Essentially the building has been the foundation of the community for so long. We wanted to do something extra special to celebrate what the building has meant to the community as a whole.”

Tuckahoe’s historic building will not be the only cause for festivity this weekend, however, as the Annual Columbus Day Festival is also held in celebration of Italian Saint Padre Pio, which Pope says has very much become the face of the festival and is a reason why so many community members just keep coming out to the event. 

“The public absolutely loves the Padre Pio festival,” Pope said. “We have traditional Italian music and vendors, and it really becomes a family event. We try and keep this event as broad as possible, so everyone from the toddlers to the grandparents can enjoy themselves.”

A whole host of performers are also on the schedule for this weekend’s festival, including Tavares (“Heaven Must be Missing an Angel”), Bonnie Pointer, formerly of the Pointer Sisters (“Heaven Must Have Sent You”), France Jolie (“Come to Me”) and Angelo Venuto (“L’Italino”). Members of the USO of Metropolitan New York will also be performing, in a patriotic salute to American forces serving overseas.

The festival’s opening act Friday will feature Angelo Venuto (“L’Italino”), who will be on hand to usher in the traditional St. Pio Procession, which begins with a mass at 6:30 pm at Assumption Church, which is also celebrating its 100th anniversary. 

Festival hours this weekend are 5 to 11 pm on Friday and Saturday, and from noon to 8 pm on Sunday, when the festival closes with a procession of St. Pio led by the Giglio Band, performers at the St.Gennaro feasts in East Harlem-Manhattan, Williamsburg-Brooklyn and Franklyn Square, Long Island.