New Bedford’s First Craft Beer and Food Truck Festa a Hit

It was so nice to see the feast grounds in New Bedford finally being utilized after idly sitting for two solid years. The organizers of the beloved Feast of the Blessed Sacrament, one of the most well-attended Portuguese feasts in the world, decided to open up the grounds to try something new.

Throughout the pandemic, there have been glimpses of silver linings that have come about from society shifting and changing. The First Annual Craft Beer and Food Truck Festa is a perfect example. It is unlikely that the feast board would have taken on the task of creating an entirely new event had it not been for COVID-19.

When this year's feast was postponed to 2022 just days before Governor Baker announced that COVID restrictions would be lifted over Memorial Day weekend, many people questioned the decision. However, as the first weekend in August rolled around, the Delta variant was tearing through the Commonwealth and specifically the SouthCoast. At that point, the organizers looked like wise elders.

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Having a couple hundred thousand bodies shoulder to shoulder for hours on end does pose some potential problems. Even though the feast is a mostly outdoor event, the optics would have been tough. Holding the feast, as normal would have run the risk of it becoming a super-spreader event. Ultimately, that was a risk the board was not willing to take.

However, having something controlled like the Craft Beer and Food Truck Festa seemed to strike a more appropriate happy medium that fit into the current state of the pandemic. They had the ability to limit the number of tickets sold, which made the crowd much more manageable.

The nice part is that New Bedford seems to now have a new annual event. If you are a food and beer lover, hopefully you'll be able to look forward to the Craft Beer and Food Truck Festa for years to come.

Here are just a few of the photos that captured the feel of the event.