Dominic Strazzullo is President of the Madonna del Soccorrso Society. They run the Fisherman’s Feast in Boston’s North End. “I’ve been doing this for 30 years and it’s something you have to have in your blood to keep it going,” said Strazzullo. “Our feast is 114 years old. It is the oldest running continuous Italian feast in the North End of Boston right now.

There are feasts that are older but they haven’t been continuous,” he said. And with that history comes lots of tradition. “It’s from Sciacca, Sicily, and the fishermen from that town are the ones who carry the Madonna and the Madonna looks out for the fisherman,” he said. The fishermen carry her statue through the streets and the festival draws tens of thousands.