Last week was fried dough at the Tisbury Street Fair. This week it’s malasada, sopa and cacoila. Welcome to the Portuguese Holy Ghost Feast and Festival, a two-day extravaganza of eating, festivities and a parade through the streets of Oak Bluffs.
The one-story building stands at the corner of County Road and Vineyard avenue in Oak Bluffs. An American flag flaps in the breeze. Beneath it is the Portuguese flag.
Some 1,700 people turned out at the Portuguese American Club in Oak Bluffs on a rain and sleet-driven Saturday to sample some of the best chili recipes and raise more than $27,000 for the Red Stocking Fund at the 29th annual event sponsored by radio station WMVY.
The 28th Annual Big Chili Contest, a major fundraiser for both the Red Stocking Fund and the Portuguese-American Club, begins at 11 a.m. on Saturday at the P.A. Club in Oak Bluffs (snow date is Sunday).
Gina deBettencourt takes over as new P.A. Club president, succeeding longtime club president Tricia Bergeron, who led the club for 22 years. She’s been involved in club activities for 15 years, most recently serving as vice president of the organization.
There was plenty of reason to celebrate. It was the 25th anniversary of the Big Chili Contest, and spicy vats of chili were heating up inside the Portuguese American Club in Oak Bluffs on a frigid Saturday that found the Island dusted with sparkly snow for the third time in 10 days. And less than 24 hours earlier, radio station WMVY, sponsor of the popular contest that benefits the Red Stocking Fund, had reached a $600,000 fundraising goal that will keep the station alive for at least one more year.
Two days of celebration begin tomorrow in the annual Feast of the
Holy Ghost. Islanders of Portuguese heritage and their friends will
party, dine and parade in a festival whose traditions date back more
than half a century.
"This is our heritage," said Bobbie Ann Gibson of Oak
Bluffs, president of the Holy Ghost Association.
