The Feast of San Gennaro wraps Sunday, so Saturday is the last full day to walk Mulberry Street and still have private party entertainment in Little Italy waiting at the apartment when you are done eating.
It’s the 100th year. Started in 1926. Eleven days of sausage smoke, zeppole sugar on your shirt, and a crowd that does not care you had a plan. The Grand Procession is Saturday, September 26, from 2 to 4 pm. Go see it. Then leave. We do not work the feast, the street, or anything public. The after is a living room you control.
Spend the day on Mulberry, not the night
You already know the move. Walk south, eat standing up, argue about which stand had the better cannoli, take the picture in front of the lights. That’s the day. The mistake is staying until your feet hate you and then trying to “find something” at 11. There is no something. There is a second line for the same zeppole.
Eat early. I’m talking afternoon, while the procession is still a reason to be there. Get the sandwich. Get the pastry. Let the sugar happen on the block, not on a performer later. If cannoli come up at the after-party, that’s what you ate. That’s it.
When the procession wraps around 4, the crush gets dumber. That’s your cue. Train, cab, walk, I don’t care. Get off Mulberry while you still like Little Italy.
Get out before the crush owns you
Downtown apartments and hotel suites exist for this. You did the street. Now the group needs a door that closes, a bathroom that isn’t a Porta-John, and a bartender so nobody is washing cups in a tiny sink. That’s the whole after-party. Not another lap of the feast.
Tell people the address before they scatter. One pin. One living room. If half the group “just wants to stay one more hour,” they can. You go home and set the lights. The ones who actually wanted a night will follow the pin.
Climate Week and the UN are still chewing on Midtown through the 27th, so don’t be a hero with a crosstown plan after the feast. Stay downtown. Your future self will send you a thank-you text.
The real party is the apartment
Book a bartender for the after if you can. One person who can pour a drink and a mocktail, because not everybody is still going after zeppole. The entertainment walks into a room that already has a pulse, not into a pile of feast bags and no ice.
Keep it 21 and over. Keep it inside. We have booked private parties since 1989 and the site has been up since 2007. None of that gets you a permit for Mulberry Street, and we wouldn’t take one. Street is the street. Home is home.
If you’re closing out the 100th feast, do the day right and the night easier. Call us and tell us the apartment or the suite downtown. We’ll time the after to when you’re actually off the block, not to when the feast still has you.
Wear shoes you can stand in. That’s not fashion advice. That’s feast advice. If your group wants a second loop of the lights after the procession, fine. Cap it. The 100th year will still be the 100th year tomorrow in the photos. Your feet will remember Saturday night more than the banner will.
Hotel suites downtown are the lazy genius move if the apartment is in Queens. Nobody wants that train with a sugar crash. Book the suite for the after, not as a day base. You don’t need to see Mulberry from the window. You need a door and a bathroom.
I’m not above the feast. I like the feast. I like it until I don’t, which is usually about the time someone says “one more stand.” That’s when the private night starts earning its keep. Call us when you know the address. We’ll be there after the cannoli, not during.
One more thing about the procession. 2 to 4 pm is a window, not a suggestion to camp the curb from noon. Show up, watch, eat, go. If your cousin wants to stay until the generators die, bless them. You’re hosting later. Hosts leave on time.
Put the after on the calendar like it’s a reservation, because it is. Ice in the freezer before you walk to Mulberry. Playlist already on the speaker. When the group hits the door they should not watch you scramble. That’s how a feast day becomes a good night instead of a long one.