'It's a Wonderful Life' comes to the streets of Patchogue

It was a wonderful life in Patchogue this weekend as the village celebrated its inaugural festival themed around the 1946 holiday classic movie.

Vintage cars circled Main Street as volunteers reenacted scenes from “It’s a Wonderful Life” across seven locations, starting at That Meetball Place and ending at the Capital One Plaza.

The Frank Capra-directed film focuses on George Bailey, a small-town banker who contemplates taking his life on Christmas Eve until a guardian angel shows him what life in the fictional Bedford Falls community might look like without him.

Organizers of the Patchogue event aimed to immerse participants in the era with performances from 1940s street characters and newsies, played by dozens of dancers between the ages of 7 and 17. The weekend holiday extravaganza also featured several other events throughout the village, including a holiday market on Saturday night.

The effort was coordinated by around 30 businesses and inspired by Port Jefferson Village’s annual Dickens Festival, said organizer Steven Muñoz, who owns Amazing Olive in Patchogue and Port Jefferson. The production was called “It’s a Wonderful Life in Patchogue.”

“We changed the script to fit the village here,” he said.

Money raised by the weekend event will go to the Greater Patchogue Chamber of Commerce and the Patchogue-Medford Friends of the Library. Organizers did not yet know how much had been raised on Sunday afternoon.

“It spotlights how much Patchogue as a village cares,” said Silvana Aloisio, executive director of the chamber.

Blum’s Lingerie and Swimwear, the largest sponsor of the event, “lassoed the moon for us,” she added.

Kris DeVito, with the Black Box Traveling Theatre Company, worked with more than 30 children to organize a choreography that matched the themes of the movie.

“The dancers recreate the prom scene where they do the Charleston. But I didn’t want to just give them that; I wanted to give them more, because they wanted more,” she said. “When I told them about the movie, all the kids that weekend went home after our first meeting and they watched [it] … They were so excited.”

Sophia Gugick, 10, dressed in a sparkly black dress, is one of the dancers who worked with DeVito. Gugick, who has loved dancing since she was born, said she was “excited” to be part of the festival.

“I learned about how fun cooperating with people can be,” she said.

Ken Dobbins, a retired teacher who played the narrator in the reenactments, said around 60 or 70 people trailed the company from scene to scene on Saturday. He helped write the script, a condensed version of the movie.

“I was shocked to see the amount of people that followed us the other day. It was wonderful,” he said.

At the first scene of the acting troupe’s Sunday afternoon performance, the crowd was filled with people of all ages looking on in the backroom of That Meetball Place.

Speaking into a retro-style mic in an immaculate black suit, Dobbins described the life of George Bailey.

“As a point, George Bailey: Selfless,” he said, describing the many acts of service performed by the banker throughout his life, starting in childhood.

He guided the audience into a scene where actors playing George and his future wife, Mary, emerged singing, “Buffalo gals, won’t you come out tonight?” He somberly announced George’s father’s death, then George’s decision to take over his father’s business.

“Now, do you want to see a continuation of the story? Meet us down at Daisy’s, where we’ll have Scene Two of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ ” he said.

For Muñoz at least, it’s clear what he is going to do next year, and the year after that.

“We hope to continue this for many years to come,” he said.

By Brianne Ledda

brianne.ledda@newsday.com@brianne_ledda

Brianne Ledda covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. She previously covered Southold and Greenport for The Suffolk Times and is a graduate of Stony Brook University.