Boston’s Fisherman’s Feast Returns to the North End

Special to the Regional Review 

Boston’s Fisherman’s Feast is back for the 114th anniversary, bringing the one-of-a-kind festival back to Boston. Boston’s longest-running Italian festival will be celebrated from Thursday, August 15 through Sunday, August 18.

Dating all the way back to 1910, this hugely popular annual Italian festival is held throughout the streets of Boston’s North End district to celebrate the devotion of immigrant Sicilian fishermen to the Madonna del Soccorso di Sciacca (Our Lady of Help). This year will see the usual enticing selection of entertainment, food, cooking demonstrations, and traditional parades, including a religious procession through the district’s narrow streets carrying a statue of the Madonna, street vendors, and the 6th Annual Best Meatball Competition.

Boston’s most beloved festival will once again perform the ‘Flight of the Angel.’ Called a “spectacle not to be missed” by National Geographic, this year’s Flight of the Angel will close out the 114th Fisherman’s Feast at 9 pm on Sunday, August 18th.

The festival is free to enter for all. A full schedule of events can be found at fishermansfeast.com.

The Fisherman’s Feast is an annual event that began in Boston in 1910 and is based on a tradition that goes back to the 16th century in Sciacca Sicily. The Feast is based on the devotion of the fishermen from Sciacca to the Madonna del Soccorso (Our Lady of Help). Each August since 1910, the Feast has been held in Boston’s historic North End on North and Fleet Streets, making it the North End’s oldest continuously running Italian festival. The Feast traditionally starts on Thursday when the statue of the Madonna is moved from her home in the Fisherman’s Club to a chapel at the center of the feast. This will be her home throughout the weekend. Each night and during weekend days there is entertainment on the bandstand and vendors selling food as well as crafts. The Feast culminates on Sunday night with the spectacular “Flight of the Angel”. For more information, please visit www.fishermansfeast.com.