Boston’s famous North End neighborhood, with its thin streets studded with Italian eateries, began its annual North End Week celebration Friday as a part of the Summer on the Waterfront program, carrying it out through the weekend. While there was a wide variety of festive events, the main attraction was Saint Anthony’s Feast, one of the largest Italian cultural festivals in New England.
The feast has been celebrated since 1919, when San Antonio Di Padova Da Montefalcione, Inc. was founded. The society, which is dedicated to Saint Anthony of Padua, is a religious and cultural nonprofit within the North End community.
According to Joe DiGirolamo, a member of the feast’s organizing board, the festival closely follows the customs of its Italian beginnings and religious basis. In continuation of the entire event’s giving spirit, the money raised by the feast is put back into the Boston community.
“We maintain a lot of tradition as they do in Italy,” he said. “It runs simultaneously with what happens in Italy … [The feast’s] proceeds are used to pay for the event as well as a number of charities the group donates to.”
Lively crowds, vibrant decorations and excited vendors marked the feast.
“There were a few streets filled with vendors and tents, all local restaurants,” said Samantha Blank, a senior in the College of Communication. “All Italian, of course. And it was so crowded.”
While long lines at local staples such as Mike’s Pastry and Modern Pastry are not unusual, they grew immensely during the festival. Passing the bakeries, North End visitors could see people dodging each other as they tried to enter, exit and cut the lines that wrapped around the block.
The vendors involved in the celebration numbered somewhere around 100, including both pushcarts and tents. Many local restaurants added tents outside their establishments and offered meals on shaded patios for visitors to escape the heat.
The festival’s well-known traditions were highlighted at the opening and close of the event. Friday saw a blessing of Saint Anthony’s statue, while Sunday brought an Italian-language mass followed by a grand procession carrying the statue through the streets. Upon returning to Endicott Street, festival patrons participated in a candlelit walk to the chapel where Santa Lucia’s feast would begin on Monday.
“[Santa Lucia’s feast] is more local … It has a more solemn, religious tone,” DiGirolamo said.
While the feast overwhelmed the weekend, the rest of the week included, and will continue to include, events from the Freedom Trail Foundation, a group that offers tours along the city’s historic pathway. Their tours include North End-specific walks and tours like the Walk Into History and Pirates & Patriots tours.
Many more events will run this weekend as North End Week concludes. There will be a tour Friday at 1 p.m. called “The North End: Gateway to Boston.” Led by Boston By Foot, the tour will explore and explain one of Boston’s oldest and most distinct neighborhoods.
Saturday includes three major events, celebrating both the festival and Labor Day weekend. At 9 p.m., there will be a fireworks show at the harbor. From 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., Battery Wharf Hotel will be hosting a BBQ and Blues event, from which the fireworks will be directly visible. The day is also one of the final Summer Saturdays at the Paul Revere House, which includes craft demonstrations, historic talks and live music.
Sunday, the final day of North End Week, will wrap up the festivities with additional tours from the Freedom Trail Foundation.
Each year, the Week offers both Bostonians and visitors to the city a chance to immerse themselves in the culture of the North End. With the ever-increasing popularity of social media, the event’s coordinators hope that the celebration grows larger each year.
“The basic basis of the festival remains the same,” DiGirolamo said, “but the days of social media and the Internet are creating more visitors … exposing it to the world.”