Jeane Marchitto of Rotterdam can never miss the annual summer party at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in Schenectady. "It's like a magnet, it just draws you every year," said Marchitto, who at 90-plus has volunteered at the festa for decades. "It's something you want to do."

Parishioners and friends of the church on Pleasant Street, in the city's Mont Pleasant section, will also want to be around Mt. Carmel when the tents, food booths and rides open Friday at 5 p.m. The festa will run until 10 p.m. opening night; Saturday and Sunday hours are 5 to 10 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m., respectively.