The Festival

It's been hot here the past few weeks. Nasty hot--muggy hot; the kind of hot that persuades ugly bugs to leave their dark crevices and vacation in your bathroom and kitchen. We've seen a few particularly interesting ones the past few days.

But summertime is also a time for festivals, no matter the heat. This weekend is the St. Mary of Carmen Society Festival in Nonantum/The Lake (the northern part of Newton in between the Pike and the Charles for those unfamiliar with Fat Pellegrini, "Ya Mush!" and the Nonantum Boxing Club), aka The Italian Festival.

Italian Festivals occupy a special place in my heart. Growing up in placid Dover, we would head into the raucous North End once or twice every summer for one of the myriad festivals that inevitably occupied that part of the city every weekend. Some were small, but most were big, and I seem to recall the Feast of St Anthony as being the biggest. Hanover St smelled like Fenway Park with all of the sausages, peppers, and onions being cooked, and it was quite easy to lose your bearings among all of the vendors and party-goers. The city seemed to come alive during these feasts. Old people danced with other old people, teenagers walked around with enormous stuffed animals won at carnival booths, and giant statues of saints were adorned with hundreds of dollar bills. It was unlike anything that Dover had to offer.

Even in Delaware St. Anthony's feast was a big one. Wilmington being a small town, I was fortunate to live a 5-minute walk away from the site of the giant Italian Festival held each summer. (This happened to be right next to my barber--the one who was 75 years old, wielded a straightedge blade, and called me "John." Every time I went in there it was the best $7 or $8--yes, sometimes he forgot how much he usually charged me--I ever spent.) It was less rowdy than the North End version, but still good--lots of food, carnival rides, Italian music, more food, and a lot of people. I heard from someone who I thought was fairly knowledgeable about Delaware affairs that the Wilmington feast was "one of the best ones along the East coast," and that people "came by the busload from all around to see it." I'm not sure that was the case, but it was a good story. Regardless of who else went, Natalia and I had a good time there...it is one of the things I miss about Delaware (admittedly, a short list).

So anyway--it's hot today, there's a festival in Nonantum, Natalia and I both like Italian festivals, so we decided to go. (Pics are here.)

I think we were both pleasantly surprised by the turnout and overall "festivalness" of this feast. Lots of people, lots of games, lots of rides, some food, lots of music, lots of old people sitting on stoops and, sometimes, dancing with each other. Lots of people who knew each other, lots of people in a good mood. Lots of people wearing Italian soccer jerseys.

My dad joined us for a couple hours, as did Tom and Madhabi's baby Juniper, who we were babysitting for a bit. We spent the first few minutes walking around, seeing what games there were, trying to find something for Andres to do. We found a basketball game for him:



We also all took a turn on the Merry-Go-Round.



Every so often I get a reminder that Andres is fast growing up and becoming more independent. Today was one of those days. I was not expecting him to enjoy the Merry-Go-Round at all; I thought he would be scared, or somewhat apprehensive about all the music and lights. I was dead wrong. He loved it--going up and down, waving to people, the music and lights. I stood next to him (ostensibly to be there for him in case he started to freak out) as he sat on the horse, but as the ride went on and on, it was clear that my presence there was superfluous. He went two more times before the evening was out, enjoying each run more than the last.



We grabbed some pizza for dinner, Celia and Juniper ate their meals too, my dad headed back home, and then it was back to the festival proper for some post-meal dancing. As this video proves, everybody in the family except me has some rhythm.



We stayed until 9pm, which turned out to be the time that it really started getting crowded. All the families were leaving, rapidly being replaced by herds of teens and those-who-wish-they-were-still-teens. It was certainly a successful trip--no meltdowns by any of the three kids, and I think both Natalia and I got to enjoy ourselves too, which is not always an easy task when shepherding kids + accouterments around a busy venue. We'll have to make it a point to make this festival a yearly family event.

Maybe not as good as Wilmington's world-famous feast, but certainly a good approximation.