A half-dozen members of a group called the Italian-American Defense League gathered in Wooster Square Park to celebrate Columbus Day — and to renew their call for a return of the long-gone statue depicting that federal holiday’s namesake.

The group charged with coming up with a new Italian heritage-celebrating sculpture for that same spot of Wooster Square Park, meanwhile, has now raised $320,000 out of its $400,000 goal. That was the scene Monday morning beside the statue-less plinth on the southern end of Wooster Square Park.