“This is my first time coming on a Saturday and it happens to be after the… it’s really not after – we’re still in the pandemic, but I guess after mass vaccination, so I’m actually quite surprised to see how many people are here,” said Eric Johnson, 32, of Harlem  ”

 Johnson said he isn’t scared to be around a large group of people since he is vaccinated.

 “We’ve been risking it all for a while,” said Johnson. “I mean, you know, I’m not scared. I was vaccinated back in April. Nothing’s happened since then. I ride the trains. This is a little different for me though, I’ve never been in this type of crowd for quite some time, but I am hoping for the best. I think we’ll be alright.”

 Anna Delgado, 62, from Queens said she was a regular at the San Gennaro Feast. She also felt safe in the large group due to the vaccination rates in Little Italy. 

“Some people, they are aware of the pandemic,” said Delgago. “They use masks, but I think around 70 percent of the people over here, they already had the vaccination. That’s very good for New York.”

According to the CDC, 85.54 percent of Hudson Square, Little Italy, SoHo, and Tribeca are vaccinated. This is higher than Manhattan’s vaccination rate of 79.09 percent and New York City’s vaccination rate of 69.45 percent. The case and death rate for these neighborhoods are also lower than Manhattan’s as well as New York City’s.

 With hundreds of people unmasked in such close quarters, the feast does have the potential to  be a super spreader event as fully vaccinated people are still getting infected with Covid.  The vaccine card and mask mandates  are not required for outdoor events.

But the crowds who walked around eating cannolis and smoked sausages were not afraid and neither were the vendors hawking the food.

 “It doesn’t matter because we’re all outside, “ said Angelique Aquilino, 36, a pastry stand owner.  “We can do whatever we want to do, and everybody’s happy.”

Not every vendor was comfortable with the crowds.

Josephine Caso, sister of the owner of Cafe Napoli, checking her reflection in a window at the Feast of San Gennaro in Little Italy. Photo by Maggie Geiler

“I tell you I’m a little leery,” said Josephine Caso, 85, sister of the owner of Café Napoli. “Thank God that everybody’s healthy, [my family and I] all got our shots, we’re happy to be back.”

 Caso and her family handed out cannoli’s, almond-filled pastries, and zeppole to customers waiting in long lines, some for up to 45 minutes. With much of Little Italy’s income being dependent on tourism, the tight-knit community was hit hard by the pandemic, causing most restaurants to lay off staff members and some to deal with closing.

 “Forget it, forget it, it was a disaster,” said Caso “I’ll tell you the truth, I was scared. We had the place closed for a year and a half, nobody walked the streets. It was very hard.”

Business owners hoped the feast would be the boost neighborhood businesses would need.

“With the whole festival going on, hopefully it boosts everything back up, said Manuel Siguencia,37, the manager  at Il Cortilo restaurant. “All of Little Italy is packed… it’s so awesome.”

And the 11-day festival was exceeding their expectations.

 “We were afraid that it wouldn’t be like this coming back,” said Aquilino. “It’s like nothing ever happened. Like we just fell asleep and woke up and we’re back where we were. Everyone is back. This neighborhood needed this.”

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Anne Ellis makes a sale outside of One World Trade Center. By Zoe Lake

“You’re sick, you know that! It’s sick!” A passing man shouted wagging a finger at Anthony Nebors, of Brooklyn, today as he peddled commemorative 9/11 baseball hats on the 12th anniversary of the terroist attacks that killed thousands.

Posted up under some scaffolding directly across the street from the construction site of One World Trade Center, or the Freedom Tower, as it was formerly called, Nebors and vending partner Anne Ellis, also of Brooklyn, don’t understand what all the fuss is about.

“We’re getting flack for selling stuff, but we’re not the Taliban,” said Ellis, “One girl said to me, ‘I have someone who died,’ and I know about that, but why start trouble? I know they’re hurting.”

Ellis insisted that she attended the memorial for “the ceremony and the injustice,” and believes that peddling her wares, (different sized American flags), is “providing a service to the community.”

Anne Ellis and her flags for sale. Photo by Zoe Lake

Ignoring the hisses and glares of many who passed, Ellis carried out a transaction with a middle aged woman and her young daughter with whom she cut a deal for three various sized flags.

Slender and colorfully dressed, Ellis is polite and professional. She counts her cash quickly and gestures towards the women walking away who purchased the flags, “See no harm done, you want it or you don’t.”

Nearby Nebors bellowed, “hats for sale, get your commemorative hat,” while pacing up and down the crowded block. Nebors is more frank about his 9/11 memorial attendance, “I am here to sell my merchandise,” he said.

No proceeds from either merchants’ profits is put towards any victims, families, hospitals, or relief workers, and while some have told both Nebors and Ellis that they believe this is a disservice to the grieving families, in effect profiting from their pain, Nebors does not see it that way, though he admits he doesn’t know what he would feel in their shoes.

“Fortunately for me I didn’t know anyone in 9/11 so I don’t know how that would feel,” he said. “I feel that by you wearing the hats it’s respect to the families and this is the best day of the year to do that. It’s patriotic. I don’t understand why people are upset.”

Anthony Nebors sells hats in front of One World Trade Center. Photo by Zoe Lake

Throughout the rest of the year Nebors is a traveling vendor, setting up shop at different street fairs and markets across the city and upstate.

“One guy said I was disgusting,” Nebors said, “I didn’t steal these hats, I paid for them, I’m just trying to make a living.”

Amidst the heckling a few more sales were made. Around 10:00 AM a man dressed in a starched grey polo and khakis claiming to be a representative for families of 9/11 victims politely asked both Ellis and Nebors to leave or relocate, both nodded in agreement, packed up their things and before 10:05 AM had quietly and compliantly disappeared from the scene.

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A vanilla ice cream cone double-dipped in fudge and smothered in peanuts made its way from the Mister Softee truck in the East Village to the reaching hands of Ava Castillo, 4, who was held up to the counter by her mother Josephine, 32. Ava’s eyes lit up as she buried her face into the cone, instantly staining her rosy-colored face with remnants of melted chocolate.

“Last winter, I know for a fact I wasn’t buying this little one a cone the first week of March,” said the Park Slope, Brooklyn mom, as she wiped Ava’s face now sprinkled with peanuts stuck to the corners of her mouth. “Ice cream trucks or food carts in general were hard to find because there was no business, but now they’re all over the place.”

Most of New York City’s food trucks have experienced a surge in customers due to the unusually warm winter weather this year, with temperatures skirting the 40s over the past few months and no major snowstorms hitting the Northeast. Food trucks were hit hard with dangerous blizzards back in 2011 and 2010 that forced hundreds of vendors to close until early spring.

But some, like Belgium-born Wafels and Dinges, parked in Columbus Circle, took out their shovels and continued business.

“Last winter was a hard time because we had a big snowstorm and not many people came out, but we made sure we did so customers knew we were there and that built our reputation,” said employee Azamat Alanazaron of Borough Park, Brooklyn. “Our customers are important to us and we want to make them happy. We know waffles do just that during any type of weather.”

Alanazaron added that thanks to social media like Twitter and Facebook, they were able to update foodies on their location before trekking out into the storm.

Like Belgian-inspired Wafels and Dinges, Little Cupcake Lover, a small dessert cart located on Lafayette Street in the East Village, suffered a loss in profits the past few winters that forced them to close its ovens until early spring. This year, however, the cart has served nearly 200 customers daily, a major increase from last year.

“There was so much snow in 2010, we had to close until spring because there was no business, no one was out,” said employee Bahy Elsayed of the two-year-old baking business. “This winter was good, we tried to work Monday through Friday and the temperature was between 30 to 40 degrees, which is good for this time of year.”

Mobile bakery Sweetery NYC, which travels around the city serving treats like muffins and scones in addition to hot and cold beverages, was also in business last winter. But president and co-founder Grant Di Mille said business was slow since “people don’t want to go out.” During slow winter months, Sweetery relies on a catering business with clients including Food Network and the Weather Channel.

Sweetery NYC customer Ellen Dobrin of Gramercy, said she noticed more food trucks out this winter and attributed it to the warmer weather.

“It’s definitely still chilly out, but nothing like it was the past few years,” Dobrin said. “Temperatures were in the single digits and this year we barely reached the ‘teens, so that definitely had a positive effect on all the food trucks that are popping up more and more each day.”

Mediterranean food vendor The Chabah, also in the neighborhood, said bad weather does not affect their business. Serving classic favorites like falafel platters and chicken gyros to more than 100 hungry customers daily, Chabah said rain or shine, they try their best to make it to their location on the corner of 66th Street and Broadway.

“We have to work, no matter what,” he said. “We have regular customers that rely on us and we value their business. We don’t want to lose them because we decided not to open on a snowy day.”

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