This year the weather smiled on the annual St. Rocco Festival. Chairman Joe Barnao, who was obviously enjoying his 26th year as chair of the festival said, "Everything is going very well. We had five days of good weather, and this day as well. We will top last year's figures. We've had plenty of help. All the volunteers showed up!"

Monsignor John Alesandro, pastor of St. Dominic's echoed his sentiments. "We've had five perfect days, and actually, the most volunteers we've ever had. Everybody is pulling together.

"It's a gigantic undertaking. It takes a lot of organization, but no one in the world, could pull it off without our volunteers - nowhere," he added.

Marie Knight who has over the years worked beside "Chairman Joe" is co-chair emeritus of the St. Rocco Festival. With her long experience she was able to help if there was a glitch, such as signs that had to be removed due to a complaint.

She said, "Wednesday when the fireworks were shown, was the best night they had in a long, long time. She said Thursday night, Family Night, was mediocre. But on Wednesday night they were running out of things [food]. Everyone is doing everything." She said her name is listed on the Internet as the person to call and she has been getting calls from vendors. She said the only outside vendor they use is the company that sells the Torrone candy and Italian theme hats and shirts. "I even got calls on Wednesday and Thursday from people asking directions from East Meadow and from out east. But, I don't mind. I want to help."

Bob Quinn, the spokesperson for the St. Dominic's Concerned Families said, "Many of the members stepped out of the festival, and sat on the sidelines. It was their own choice. I personally didn't go, I'm not a carnival kind of guy." He said the group didn't ask the members not to volunteer as they didn't want to hurt the church, but there was some concern about actively aiding the festival. [As people spoke at the two open forums held at the Brookville Reformed Church, many mentioned they volunteered at the St. Rocco Festival, as well as other involvements with the church.]

Mr. Quinn said, "In the past Monsignor has used things to his benefit. At the auction several members of our group gave large donations in excess of $300,000 to have a playing field named for Father Malcolm Burns. We did it as an example that we were still supporting the church. Monsingor Alesandro simply took the donations and said they were an example of how well things were going in the parish." [They also had great reverence and respect for Father Malcolm and had hoped he would become the pastor of the church.]

"We went to the auction to show we wanted to support the church financially and to support its activities in general. Frank Ingrassia was the moderator [for the meetings at the Reformed Church in Bookville] and he bid and won a trip that went for about $14,000," said Mr. Quinn. He was in a conflicted position saying it was probably not the best time for the festival, so close to a big vacation week, the Fourth of July Monday holiday, but he said "There was no effort to see that it would fail, but for the two weeks before there were fliers in the church bulletin, asking for volunteers."

Mary Mazzo chair of the volunteers said there was not a problem with getting volunteers. "We went over our list from last year and made calls. All the booth captains had their lists. I was there every night, from five to midnight. I'd like to thank all the volunteers who came down and made our festival a huge success," she said.

Beverly and Walter Zembko had been on vacation last week and weren't at the festival until their return on Sunday, July 11. She said, "In spite of the difficulties in the church, the Holy Spirit keeps working." [She is a leader in the St. Dominic Family Service, the group that is most involved in the current controversy.]

Ms. Zembko said the rides seemed very popular including the bumper cars and the giant slide. "We had food which I thought was good and served in nice portions. We had the baked zitti and I thought it was delicious. [They ran out of lasagna on Sunday at around 8 p.m.]

"Sunday was a very comfortable night. The best weather they've had in years; not to have one rain-out night was great for the success of the festival," said Ms. Zembko.

Another faithful St. Rocco family is Lou Pillari and his wife Corinna who have run the car raffle since 1992. This year again there were three cars parked on Firemen's Field whetting the appetites of raffle buyers. Bill Ferris announced the winner of the car raffle as Palma Stanton of Bayville, she is taking the cash, he said.

One of the great booths at the St. Rocco Festival is the photo booth. This year you could be photographed with super heroes like the cartoon character Spiderman or Scoobie Doo, baseball greats, and President George W. Bush! The president was very popular said Tracy Brusca. "A lot of kids wanted to be photographed with him. Especially a lot of the smaller children," she said. "Every age loves this booth." There are people who come back year after year and actually collect their images with the famous. It's a great tradition to start.