A summer to celebrate

by Michael J. DeCicco

The largest festival of Portuguese culture in the world and the largest ethnic festival in New England, New Bedford's Feast of the Blessed Sacrament, is back!

According to its organizers, the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament is totally back to normal, and is scheduled for the Madeira Feast grounds, 50 Madeira Avenue, New Bedford from August 4-6.

This year there will be more hand sanitizers on more poles and more barrels of Madeira wine, thanks to the backlog of barrels the Feast was unable to utilize while the event stayed closed for the past two years, and the Feast will run its first ever 50-50 Raffle.

But that's about all that will be different, said Clube Madeirense S.S. Sacramento president Richard Fernandes. He said the only other difference in this year's Feast would be its own version of the common, nationwide problem of getting supplies, from plastic cups and paper products to meat supplies. "Suppliers didn't have the quantity we wanted," he explained. "Our meat distributor had to find us a different supplier. But we are managing. We will have the same volume of people and enough supplies."

He said he is expecting as large a crowd as ever, and he is feeling good that the atmosphere will be a safe one. "You are around other people in an open area," he noted. "You're not confined inside. The police choose how many officers we need. They determine that number based on a formula, how many officers are needed per how many people. I'm not worried. It's a fun, family event everyone comes to. The community doesn't abuse it."

Keeping the tradition

Fernandes' own story is emblematic of why The Feast has survived to its 106th anniversary. He started working at the Feast 48 years ago at age 19 with his father Charles. One of his main jobs then was to deliver cash collected at the different stands to the treasurer (before the Feast adopted a ticketby based sales system). His father became club president in 1977. He kept working as a club volunteer as an adult, along with his brother and his wife, and now his grandsons and nephews are festival helpers too.

The club approves a new president each October to reign during the following year. Fernandes became president in October 2019 for the following year, 2020. In other words, he became the club president that piloted the Feast past the COVID pandemic storm.

"By April of 2020, we had to back out," Fernandes recalled. "And for 2021, they kept me in place as president. I became the only president to stay in place for three years. Last year, Governor Baker didn't decide on pulling restrictions until August 1. But we had already decided to pull last year's Feast. It takes a lot of time and planning to do one the right way."

Through it all he has remained confident the Feast wouldl survive. Each year, the Feast utilizes 10,000 pounds of beef, 9,000 pounds of pork, 3,500 pounds of linguicia, 400 pounds of codfish, countless pounds of goat and rabbit, large burlap bags full of uncooked favas, and large multi-gallon barrels of Madeira wine imported directly from the Madeira Islands. He doesn't think any of the festivities that these items supply will slow down any time soon.

Fernandes promises the same spectacular Sunday parade as in past years and the same range of live entertainment on its four stages, from Portuguese traditional to pop. This year's highlights include the Led Zepplin tribute band "Get the Led Out" on Thursday night and the Journey tribute band "The Great Escape" Friday night.

As always, the Feast organizers encourage festivalgoers to visit the free Museum of Madeiran Heritage, the only museum dedicated to the history of the Madeiran islands. Visitors can learn more at museumofmadeiranheritage.ning.com.

But Fernandes is proudest to say, "It's all back to normal. And we welcome everyone. For more info, visit feastoftheblessedsacrament.com.