June 25, 2017 — A fleet of pleasure boats blessed on a sunny Sunday afternoon replaced the fishing vessels that once lined Gloucester’s Outer Harbor during St. Peter’s Fiesta.
“The fleet is a mere shadow of what it was 50, 60 years ago,” Gloucester native Mike Gilardi said.
The Rev. Jim Achadinha, the pastor of the Catholic community of Gloucester and Rockport, and Bishop Mark O’Connell, the bishop of the North Region of the Archdiocese of Boston, blessed the fleets on Sunday at 3.
The few remaining authentic fishing vessels of the Gloucester fleet didn’t come to Stacy Boulevard for the blessing and haven’t for years. Achadinha estimated the last time was 15 years ago.
Instead, after the prayer service at the Fisherman’s Monument, the priest and the bishop headed out by boat to the Inner Harbor to bless the fishing boats at their docks.
Gilardi grew up on the Fort, raised in a fishing family surrounded by a tightly knit Sicilian community, and has seen firsthand the drastic changes in both the industry and the Fiesta celebrations.
He pointed to the boats in the Outer Harbor, both those waiting to be blessed and those jockeying for choice spots to view the Greasy Pole contest.
“It’s a whole different ball game,” Gilardi said. “There were no boats along the Greasy Pole (contest) in those days. No partying. Just fishing boats.”