A few weeks back Jim and I headed into the North End of Boston to attended our very first St. Anthony's feast.  We have heard so much about it but are not usually home in the summer. This years we were.  We love the North End...Jim went to school there so it didn't take much to convince us to head into town.  It was a beautiful day, perfect for a street festival and needless to say, how could you ever be disappointed in the North End.   I'm enclosing a bit of background for those of you who have never heard of this feast and then I'll let the photo's speak for themselves.  

"Begun in 1919, by Italian immigrants from the small town of Montefalcione in Avellino, Saint Anthony’s Feast has become the largest Italian Religious Festival in New England. Named the “Feast of all Feasts” by National Geographic Magazine, this authentic Italian street festival has it all for people of every age: parades, strolling singers, live entertainment, contests and religious services are held daily.

Visitors stroll the beautifully decorated streets sampling the best Italian street foods from 100 pushcarts enjoying arancini, sausage peppers & onion, quahogs, calamari, pizza, pasta and of course zeppole, cannoli and gelato. Guests can also browse the wide selection of souvenir keepsakes and mementos."  So it begins..

At the end of the day, we stopped into our favorite restaurant, Assagio's on Prince St...and had a lovely "sit".  Lovely wine, a beautiful Italian dinner and talked about all the memories we made on this one summer day.  A day filled with so much yummy food, even a piece of the Italian cream coconut cake to take home for tea time. So many lovely people in a crowd that was festive and non-threatening.  We felt safe, enjoying the friendliness of everyone we stopped to talk to and that I wanted to photograph.  Once again, it confirms to me that most people are kind and just want to have fun...no better place for fun than in the North End...I think I'm going to add St. Anthony's festival to my summer calendar each year.  It really is kind of special.

All of these photo's were taken with my anniversary gift of a Fuji XT2 and a prime..53 Fuji lens..It was the first time I used the camera and I hadn't even read the manual...that's on my list for later today.  I set it for a Provia film and was not disappointed.  I know this is going to be a great camera for me going forward.  It's really fast and I like that when I'm  doing street photography...Thank you Jim..  He's such a handy gadget.

“Summer vacation is about watermelons, shaved ice, Popsicles, summer festivals with fireworks, and the ocean!!!"  Author unknown.  I do believe this to be true though.