The Crowds, The Noise, The Congestion, The Laughter and Good Eating are Worth it

With the St. Anthony’s Feast nearly upon us (August 26-28), it is as good a time to take stock of the summer fading away and what it has brought us.

It has been a good summer with solid business for nearly all the North End’s many businesses. Especially when one considers the difficulties of the national economy, it was an especially healthy business summer.

Tourism was at a high.

The North End shined.

North End residents came and went as they pleased, mildly inconvenienced by the huge throngs that gathered on Hanover and Salem Streets all summer.

The St. Anthony’s Feast will bring by far and away the hugest and most boisterous crowds of the summer onto Thatcher, Endicott and North Margin Streets.

This feast from year to year during the past 40 years has grown into something of Hollywood production proportions.

And it has not lost its flavor.

This year’s feast, according to organizers, will not disappoint anyone.

All we need and pray for is good weather.