St. Mary’s Feast is celebrating its 119th year this week, beginning on Wednesday with festivities continuing through Sunday.

The celebrations include fireworks on Sunday night at 10 p.m. at Atwood Field, a road race on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. and a festival at Civita Center Grounds and Knightsville Gazebo.

Religious services include a Triduum in honor of Maria Santissima della Civita Tuesday through Thursday, an outdoor mass and candlelight procession on Friday at 7 p.m. and a patronal mass and procession at 10 a.m. Sunday.

The feast can be traced back to Itri, Italy in 796 A.D. According to tradition, a shepherd saw an image of Mary and baby Jesus in a tree and was cured of his muteness. The site became home to a temple and the event was commemorated in 1777 by Pope Pius VI.

Itri immigrants settled in Knightsville and carried the tradition with them. The St. Mary’s Feast was first celebrated in 1905 when the St. Mary’s Feast Society was founded.

Throughout the week the Society hosts DJs and bands on their patio at 15 Phenix Ave.