Gloucester is celebrating its 91st annual St. Peter’s Fiesta this week. The festival is a celebration of the community’s commercial fishing, Roman Catholic and Sicilian traditions. It begins with the Novena (nine evenings of prayer), then moves to processions of saints and icons through the town. Festival highlights also include sporting contests—the seine boat rowing race and the Greasy Pole contest, in which costumed competitors must walk to the end of a grease-slathered telephone pole to grab a flag off the end.
Procession through Gloucester’s streets at the end of the Novena (nine days of prayer) that serve as a prelude to the St. Peter’s Fiesta, June 26, 2018. (Greg Cook)The Mass concluding the St. Peter’s Fiesta Novena (nine days of prayer) at Gloucester’s American Legion Hall, June 23, 2018. (Greg Cook)Praying the rosary during the St. Peter’s Fiesta Novena at Gloucester’s American Legion Hall, June 23, 2018. (Greg Cook)The Mass concluding the St. Peter’s Fiesta Novena (nine days of prayer) at Gloucester’s American Legion Hall, June 23, 2018. (Greg Cook)A cake to celebrate the conclusion of the St. Peter’s Fiesta Novena at Gloucester’s American Legion Hall, June 23, 2018. (Greg Cook)Procession of the St. Peter statue down Beach Court at the end of the Novena (nine days of prayer) that serve as a prelude to the St. Peter’s Fiesta, June 26, 2018. (Greg Cook)Joe Novello celebrates St. Peter’s Fiesta traditions and honors community members who’ve died since the last festival during the Novena procession to the end of Beach Court, June 26, 2018. (Greg Cook)Returning the statue of St. Peter to the window shrine of the St. Peter’s Club on Rogers Street at the end of the Novena (nine days of prayer) that serve as a prelude to the St. Peter’s Fiesta, June 26, 2018. (Greg Cook)The procession during the Crazy Hat Ladies’ (Robyn Clayton McNair and Amy Clayton) annual Orchard Street Fiesta Bash, June 30, 2018. (Greg Cook)Shouting blessings during the Crazy Hat Ladies’ (Robyn Clayton McNair and Amy Clayton) annual Orchard Street Fiesta Bash, June 30, 2018. (Greg Cook)The St. Peter statue at the Crazy Hat Ladies’ (Robyn Clayton McNair and Amy Clayton) annual Orchard Street Fiesta Bash, June 30, 2018. (Greg Cook)Greasy Pole walkers head to the Gloucester House tavern to celebrate and shout blessings in advance of the contest, June 30, 2018. (Greg Cook)Costumed Greasy Pole contestants wait on Pavilion Beach to be ferried out to the platform (in the distance) for the contest, June 30, 2018. (Greg Cook)To win the Greasy Pole contest, walkers must make it to the end of a grease-slathered telephone pole to grab a flag off the end, June 29, 2018. (Greg Cook)Frank Taormina is carried to Pavilion Beach by fellow Greasy Pole walkers after winning the contest, June 29, 2018. (Greg Cook)Frank Taormina is carried up Pavilion Beach by fellow Greasy Pole walkers after winning the contest, June 29, 2018. (Greg Cook)Frank Taormina (center) celebrates with fellow Greasy Pole walkers at the shrine on Commercial Street after winning the contest, June 29, 2018. (Greg Cook)The St. Peter statue is carried down Main Street during Sunday’s Fiesta procession, July 1, 2018. (Greg Cook)Gus MacIntosh visits his aunt at the Mother of Grace Club during Sunday’s procession, July 1, 2018. (Greg Cook)Carrying the Mother of Grace statue up Washington Street during Sunday’s procession, July 1, 2018. (Greg Cook)Father Jim Achadinha gives blessings at St. Ann Church during Sunday’s procession, July 1, 2018. (Greg Cook)During the Sunday procession, men wrap the St. Peter statue in ribbons of dollar bills—a gift from Roseanne Dodge, her sister-in-law Mary Ciaramitaro and their families. “We do it in memory of my parents Leo and Lena Ciaramitaro and neice Nicole Ciaramitaro that passed away in a car accident,” Dodge told me in 2016. “My father was a fisherman and he just loved St. Peter’s. He lived every year waiting for St. Peter’s Fiesta to come.” July 1, 2018. (Greg Cook)St. Alfio’s Band from Lawrence plays during Sunday’s procession, July 1, 2018. (Greg Cook)The Our Lady of Good Voyage statue is carried down Main Street during Sunday’s Fiesta procession, July 1, 2018. (Greg Cook)Shouting blessings for the Madonna del Lume, the patron saint of Porticello, Sicily, during Sunday’s procession, July 1, 2018. (Greg Cook)Gus MacIntosh shouts blessings for the Mother of Grace during Sunday’s Fiesta procession, July 1, 2018. (Greg Cook)Honoring the Mother of Grace during Sunday’s Fiesta procession, July 1, 2018. (Greg Cook)Honoring the Madonna del Lume during Sunday’s Fiesta procession, July 1, 2018. (Greg Cook)Shouting blessings for Padre Pio during Sunday’s Fiesta procession, July 1, 2018. (Greg Cook)
