Hundreds poured Saturday into the lot behind St. Anthony’s Church off Arsenal Street to check out the annual Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, marking its 101st year. For Dexter resident Susan Naso and her husband, Mark, going to the Italian festival is all part of the early summer routine.

They’ve attended every year for the last 17 years. What keeps them coming back, they said, are two of the event’s main attractions: sausage and fried dough. “It’s all about the food, really,” Mrs. Naso said. Over at the fried-dough pavilion, where a group of people rolled dough by hand to make countless fritter pastries throughout the day, Toni Manarina was keeping up a family tradition.