This year marks the 96th annual Feast of San Gennaro in Manhattan’s Little Italy, which will run from Thursday, September 15 to Sunday, September 25. The festival features the best that Little Italy has to offer, from food vendors to competitions to rides and parades. Every year, a prominent Italian-American serves as “Grand Marshal” of the festival; this year’s Grand Marshal is NASA astronaut Michael Massimino.

Originally just a day long, the block party grew to an eleven-day festival that is now about to celebrate its 96th birthday. San Gennaro, the patron saint of the city of Naples, has long been an important symbol in Manhattan’s Little Italy. The enclave was first settled in the 1860s by Italian immigrants from several regions, notably Campania (where Naples is located) and Sicily.