Community Stuff 6/30/14

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Hi Joey,. Heads up in advance. I am writing to  you to let you know there is a group of 8 Aussies coming over to go Wicked Tuna fishing starting 21st July.

We are all from the same yacht Club Sandringham Yacht Club in Melbourne Australia.  The idea was hatched 12 months ago when we were all talking about Wicked Tuna on TV. I made a few enquiries and suggested to the team ‘ why don’t we go over and meet the stars of the show’. So we arrive Gloucester on the 20th – 26th  and we are staying at Cape Ann’s Marina and are going out with Dave Newell for three days fishing in that week.

I thought this may be of interest to the Gloucester community to show people from so far away are coming to visit your city.

Any further info you may need if this is of any interest to your newspaper let  me know.

Kind Regards.

Peter Turrell

BLESSING OF THE FLEET 1953

Posted on by Manuel F. Simoes

As Published in National Geographic July 1953

10 - Copy“Let him who knows not prayer go to sea”

“Devout Portuguese fishermen of New England’s old port of Gloucester Massachusetts, who daily face the dangers of deep water, well know the truth of that old proverb. These men who wrest a hard living from the sea rely on Our Lady of Good Voyage, as well as chart and compass. And once a year, in early June, the vessels of Gloucester’s Portuguese fleet gather at the State Fish Pier to be blessed.”

 

Below are photos from the same; showing the Blessing of the fleet in 1953.

Times have changed.

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080906 Stitch

Magazine bought at Dogtown Bookstore

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Jane Austen Quote of the Week from Greg Bover

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

“Silly things cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way.”

Jane Austen (1775-1817)

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Austen lived and wrote extensively about the life of the minor English gentry of the 18th and early 19th centuries. Her first successful novel, Sense and Sensibility, was published anonymously, and although she enjoyed some fame later in life it was not until the 1940’s that she gained the dedicated following her work garners today. Her other best known books, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and Emma, set the tone for highly detailed seriocomic romantic fiction describing the dependency of the women of that time on the correct marriage to assure their standing and security. Few details of her quiet domestic life are known, including the cause of her relatively early death.

Fiesta Through the Eyes of the Little Guys

Posted on by Nichole S.

For anyone who has grown up in or around Gloucester, the St. Peter’s Fiesta has clearly served as the true kick-off to summer. But, it is much more than that. The funny thing is that the importance and significance of Fiesta has probably also changed throughout each individual’s life time depending on their age.  At times the religious celebrations have been of upmost importance… and later the rides. At times maybe the five day celebration was all about family… and later it was all about hanging out with friends.  At times it was about hoping to get a glimpse of that certain “crush” under the ferris wheel and years later it was all about air guitar at Old Timers or trying to cut in line at The Gloucester House. Still later, possibly you’ve come full circle, and celebrating with loved ones makes the Fiesta a time to truly be treasured.  At times the parade reigned supreme….and later, maybe the fireworks.  For many years playing on the beach during the seine boat races was more fun than actually watching them….and later cheering for a certain crew was equivalent to the Kentucky Derby.  The Greasy Pole has always been….well, the Greasy Pole.  Whether you love it for the tradition or the insanity, the sport or the absurdity….whether you watch it from Pavilion Beach or by boat in the harbor…there is nothing quite like it.

I’ve been there for all of them.  I have fond memories of the Fiesta that range from being a very young child, to a preteen, to a teenager, to a college student, to a bar-crawling 20 something year-old, to a “grown-up”, and now as a parent….who feels blessed to be sharing the experience with my own children. I have Fiesta memories that involve holding my grandfather’s hand as he guided me through the crowd and later memories of holding his hand as I supported him. I have Fiesta memories of holding the hand of long ago boyfriends and later Fiesta memories of holding the hand of my now husband.  Maybe the best memories are the newest….as just today, I held the hands of both of my sons while jumping from ride to ride.

So, as the mother of a 5 and 7 year-old, St. Peter’s Fiesta to me so far this year has been all about the rides, the games, and the food.  It is all about the color, the sounds, the smells…and the way they all seem to blur together.  While I may have desired to capture other aspects of this year’s Fiesta and I would love to get that “perfect shot”…..I have found myself enjoying it through my children’s eyes.

And this is how they see it.

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