As long as there have been Italians in Buffalo, newspapers have been writing about Italian festivals. Each Italian Catholic parish or transplanted Italian community often held many religious-based celebrations and festivals that mirrored those celebrated back in Italy.

In the neighborhood that stood in the area now known as Canalside – but then known as “The Hooks” or, generally, Canal Street (which was later renamed Dante Place), the 1926 celebration of St. Joseph of Bagheria’s feast day was highlighted by a procession of more than a thousand people.