East Boston festival takes a break

There will be no crooning by Sicilian-born singers.

And you can forget about the tomato jarring lessons and bocce competition.

This year, East Boston's Italian festival - a three-day extravaganza that has drawn thousands to Central Square for the past 14 years - is on hiatus. Organizers say the cost of putting on the festival has risen too high when funding is drying up.

"We are a small group, and the festival kind of outgrew itself," said Pasquale Capogreco, president of Italia Unita, a local nonprofit group that organizes the festival. "It just got bigger and bigger."

Some in East Boston say the festival has also outlived its relevance in a historically Italian neighborhood that has become increasingly Hispanic in recent years.

Richard Lynds - executive director of the East Boston Foundation, a trust that supports community organizations - said the festival is no longer a benefit to businesses in the community. He said that a majority of the businesses that participate are not from East Boston and that hardly any of them reflect the Hispanic flavor of the largely immigrant community.

"If you are going to look to the East Boston Foundation to support your organization . . . then your organization needs to involve East Boston businesses," said Lynds, whose foundation has provided more than $100,000 in grant money to Italia Unita over about 10 years.

Lynds said the foundation is reconsidering a $15,000 grant it had tentatively promised to Italia Unita last year but has not yet awarded.

"They have not applied [this year], so it's not our problem," he said. "The economic situation is such that the other sponsors that they relied on have also withdrawn support."

Councilor Salvatore LaMattina, who represents East Boston, acknowledges the lack of local businesses in the festival, but said the event is all inclusive.

"Latinos participate in this event," he said. "Of course, East Boston has changed, but it still has a strong Italian neighborhood. And this was a nice event for all of East Boston, Italians, Hispanics, Irish. It was a great event for all the neighborhood."

The festival, held on a patch of Meridian Street, has become a hometown reunion of sorts for those who come back to see family and old friends in East Boston. In recent years, the festival returned to its Italian roots, with performers from places like Calabria, Avelino, and Naples in Italy.

"It's great," said Lisa Capogreco-Cappuccio, Pasquale's sister, who is also on Italia Unita's board. "It got a lot of attention and a lot of people visited East Boston because of it. I live here. I grew up here. This really puts East Boston on the map in a positive way."

The festival even attracted attention from the Travel Channel, which plans to feature it in a segment on "Samantha Brown's Great Weekends" show Saturday.

Italia Unita recently spread the word on its website that this year's festival is on hold, saying the event is "the largest event in East Boston and one of the largest cultural events in New England."

The group said it has relied on fund-raising and corporate sponsorship, as well as grants and donations. But "due to the current economic climate locally and internationally, Italia Unita has been unable to secure financial commitments" from those sources, the group said.

Capogreco, a lifelong East Boston resident, said festival costs ballooned over the years, from $12,000 in its first year to roughly $80,000 last year.

News of the festival's postponement disappointed many.

"It's very sad," said Karen Buttiglieri, a resident of Orient Heights in East Boston who has gone to the festival for 13 of its 14 years. "There's a lot of hard work that goes into it. I feel bad for all those who have spent many years putting it together. It's a loss for the neighborhood."

Meghan Irons can be reached at mirons@globe.com.