June 22, 2016 — For some, St. Peter’s Fiesta means the Greasy Pole Walk, seine boat racing, and the 5K road race.
For others, it’s about the carnival rides, the food and nightly music and other entertainment.
But at the core of St. Peter’s Fiesta lies the celebration of Gloucester’s fishing heritage, its religious tributes to the patron saint of fishermen and the importance of family. And nothing brings that all together like Fiesta’s signature event — the Sunday procession to St. Peter, in which bearers carry St. Peter’s likeness and other statues through the city’s streets.
The procession not only oozes pageantry and religious tradition, but also spotlights some of Gloucester’s Italian, Sicilian and longtime fishing families with stops and special tributes along the route.
Joe Novello, who heads the Fiesta Committee and is once again the chief coordinator for the 89th festival, noted that families treat the procession’s stops, and the turning of the statute of St. Peter, in front of homes along the route as if St. Peter himself has come to visit for a moment or two.
“It brings it all together,” he said. “It adds to the whole celebration, and it gives the procession — and Fiesta — a meaning. When people go out of their way to do that, it makes it special for everybody.”