BUSINESS BUZZ
festa! By Katherine McDonough
ow quickly six years seem to pass. In 2012, my husband and I made plans to attend a niece’s midsummer wedding in upstate New York. As the date approached, each phone call was answered with an “Oh, no – I’m sorry.” There were problems with illness, weather, and more, all of which added up to a cancelled event. With no other plans and an empty weekend, we decided to visit New Bedford, a place on our “bucket list” because so many friends told us it was a foodie’s treasure find mixed with a ton of historical places to visit. Since we are both history teachers and amateur chefs, we headed over to a place we had only heard of. We wrangled a last-minute cancellation for a nice room in one of the suburb towns, and it didn’t take long before we heard murmurings about “the feast.” We made our way to a residential area in the city’s north end, found a parking spot, and followed the noise. We didn’t know what to expect and it took most of that day to realize that
“the feast” was not just one thing, and that it was about much more than just food. There were, in fact, four parts to the event. The main festival area was a busy collection of food stands all on the better part of a city block, a children’s carnival section with lots of colorful rides for the little ones, a beautiful church that was hand-decorated in a rainbow of real flowers and plants, and a great small museum with a tented area that reminded
served on a light Portuguese roll, it hit just the right spot. The sun was going down as we watched a folkloric dance troupe. Meanwhile, others were getting in position for the night’s star attraction on the main stage, a Portuguese pop rock group. That’s when it hit my husband and I: we didn’t even need to buy tickets for all this. We were hooked. The next day we visited the worldclass Whaling museum, took a harbor tour, and then went right back to the feast to fill up at the dining area in the main pavilion that offered full meals of authentic Portuguese cooking: chicken, beef, tuna, marinated pork, and more, and all for a price that was more than reasonable. It was all so much better than anything we could have expected. We talked about it all the way home and have been bringing friends with us every year since.
It was all so much better than anything we could have expected.
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July 2018 | The South Coast Insider
us of European cafés serving espressos, cappuccinos, and tasty pastries with soft Portuguese music playing. On our first visit we had to go slowly. We savored a small toast of Madeiran wine with happy locals who became great friends. With no time to find a local restaurant on the way, we were happy to try one of the foods that everyone assured us was rightfully popular: cubes of sirloin beef bought by the pound and roasted on giant skewers over coals on a long fire pit. With an icy cold beer and
This year’s Feast of the Blessed Sacrament will take place from August 2-5. For more details, visit FeastOfTheBlessedSacrament.com.