The Columbus Day Committee of Eastchester-Tuckahoe will host its annual Columbus Day-St. Pio Festival on Sept. 21 to 23 in Depot Square, Tuckahoe, featuring music, food and vendors.
This year’s event will honor St. Pio of Pietrelcina in recognition of the 125th anniversary of his birth and the 10th anniversary of his canonization.
The festival will begin with a mass in Italian at the Assumption Church on Sept. 21 at 6 p.m., followed by the procession of St. Pio to Depot Square. The closing procession will take place on Sept. 23 at 7 p.m.
The festival will run from 5 to 11 p.m. on Sept. 21 and 22 and from noon to 8 p.m. on Sept. 23.
The event will also feature a “man of the year” award to be given to John J. Pappalardo and his son, John D. Pappalardo, who own the Eastchester law firm Pappalardo & Pappalardo. The elder Pappalardo spent 14 years as village attorney and prosecutor for the Village of Tuckahoe. His son is a former prosecutor with the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office.
The DiPippo family, with a sixth generation living in Eastchester, will be awarded the organization’s Family Legacy tribute. The DiPippo family built many of the homes on Morgan Street.
Jessica Gulotta, a senior at Eastchester High School, has been named Miss Columbus 2012 and awarded a $10,000 college scholarship from the Generoso Pope Foundation.