Task 38 – Fisherman’s Feast Boston, MA

(38) Visit 10 Festivals of Fairs (02/20)

Festival:      Fisherman’s Feast
Location:     North End

                    Boston, MA

Website:     http://www.fishermansfeast.com/

When:         August 20, 2011

Rating: 3-Stars

In keeping with my goal of checking out at least 20 festivals or town fairs I explored the North End of Boston for the Annual Fisherman’s Feast. According to their website the Fisherman’s Fest is an event that began in Boston in 1910 but is based on tradition that goes back to the 16^th century in Sciacca Sicily. The feast is to show the devotion of the fisherman to the Madonna del Soccoroso (Our Lady of Help). The feast lasts 4 days and starts on a Monday and ends on a Sunday.

The feast begins with a procession of the Madonna through the streets of the North End and culminates with the spectacular “Flight of the Angel”. The streets are adorned with lights and filled with vendors selling all kinds of food and goods.

We decided to visit early in the day and enjoy lunch at the festival. When we arrived it was not yet underway and we wandered for an hour around Hanover Street. We stopped by the St Leonard’s Peace Garden and church to light a candle. This church is magnificent. Its ornate ceiling is really impressive.

By this time the feast was beginning and the smell of good Italian food was in the air. After a quick loop to see what was being offered Dan and I both settled on a homemade meat filled rice ball and freshly made lemonade. The rice balls were lined up and ready to be served. We had an option of meat or spinach but of course the suggestion was meat.  After picking up our food we managed to find a quiet spot on a side road to sit down and enjoy the tasty treat.  The rice ball was amazing and the sauce was superb. This is what good old fashion Italian cooking should taste like. The lemonade could have been better. It was really only juice from 1 lemon and a whole lot of sugar water. It wasn’t sweet or sour but more watery.

After eating end exploring the vendor’s offerings we wandered down to Pilots House Park to enjoy the view of Boston Harbor and relax for a moment and let our stomachs settle down from the quickly eaten food. The weather couldn’t have been better and the view was amazing.

Never one to go to the North End without stopping at Modern Pastry we made our way to Hanover St once again to pick up a couple canolli's for the road. On our way back to the car at about 1:30 we could hear singer Linda Veccharillo being singing. We decided to check it out but didn’t stay very long. She sang Smile but after hearing it sung by Steven Tyler not to many people could match his skill and it left me feeling a little disappointed. She was also clearly extremely nervous and not used to performing for a large crowd.

On our way out we walked by Boston Glider’s who runs segway tours of Boston’s North End. This looked like a lot of fun. This is something I am absolutely going to give a try. Keep an eye out for that review.