Join us August 2025 to celebrate our 100th Anniversary!
Information about events by St. Peter's Catholic Church
located in Portland, Maine
Information about events by St. Peter's Catholic Church
located in Portland, Maine
100th Annual St. Peter's Italian Bazaar & Street Festival - Celebrating the old "Little Italy" section of Portland, ME
Join us on Friday & Saturday evenings for Live Music, great Italian Food, old world-style Italian Pizza, Italian Cookies, Cannoli, Gelato & Spumoni, Games and Bruno's Restaurant serving in the outdoor beverage garden.
Friday, August 8, 2025, 5pm-10pm
Feat. Jim Ciampi & his 7-pc Dance Band
~and~
Saturday, August 9, 2025, 5pm-10pm
Feat. "Viva Las Elvis" starring national award-winning tribute artist Dan Fontaine & Memphis Sun Mafia Band
72 Federal St, Portland, ME (Map Link »)
Live Music / Italian Food & Pastry / Games / Community
All Are Welcome!
Follow The Italian Flags to the 2025 Celebration of the 100th Annual Italian Festival & Bazaar
The 100th Annual St. Peter’s Italian Festival kicks off on Federal Street between India and Hampshire Streets in the old “Little Italy” neighborhood of Portland, ME and celebrates the “Assumption of Mary and Saint Rocco."
Celebrating the History and Spirit of the old "Little Italy" in Portland, ME. Live Music - Friday night with "Jim Ciampi and his Premier 7-piece Dance Band". Saturday night features Dan Fontaine as Elvis Presley with his 8-piece band, the “Memphis Sun Mafia” and Jimmy Mazz, performing all those great hits from Iconic artists as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Tom Jones, and more. Enjoy fabulous Italian Food, world-style handmade Italian Pizza, delicious homemade Italian Cookies, Cannoli, Gelato & Spumoni, Games, and Bruno's Restaurant serving in the expanded outdoor beverage garden.
For more information, please call festival co-chairman, Michael Colello, at 207-838-6829.
Our address is 72 Federal Street in Portland, Maine. Portland's "Little Italy" neighborhood.
No, this event is FREE and open to the public. Food, drinks & merchandise is available for purchase.
Please following City of Portland parking rules and regulations, including for metered street parking and public parking lots. The festival area is walkable from Portland's Downtown, East End, West End and Old Port neighborhoods.
The beginning of St. Peter’s parish in Portland, Maine, can be traced back to April 16, 1882, with the coming of the first family from Italy. This first Italian family was registered in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception parish on Congress Street and was soon joined by other Italians. These new immigrants from the “Old Country” formed a close-knit community in the heart of this growing city. They came from various parts of Italy and settled in towns like Portland all over the United States. They brought their culture and heritage, which all blended beautifully into the "Melting Pot” of the United States of America in the early 1900s.
Around the turn of the century, the number of Italians living in Portland was expanding, and this rapid expansion required many new workers. These new Italian immigrants ran stores and businesses on Fore Street and the surrounding area, each advertising the standard formula of the time: "Italian Labor Furnished for All Kinds of Work." With the Italians keeping up their correspondence with the "Old Country," they recruited workers with promises of good jobs, and good pay. In 1900, a special attraction was a job on the railroad as a laborer, paying 10 cents an hour for a ten-hour day.
These new immigrants from Italy came to America with the promise of better living conditions and more plentiful work, encouraged by family and friends who had recently arrived here. Most of the newcomers from the “Old Country” settled in the peninsula section of Portland. The surrounding neighborhood at the base of “Munjoy Hill” is around the current location of St. Peter’s Church, appropriately renamed as “Little Italy”.
Because of a language barrier, most new Italian immigrants tended to live together in the same neighborhood. These "new Americans" practiced their Christian faith by attending services at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Congress Street, close by in the neighborhood. While they struggled to learn the English language, they also longed to hear the word of God in their native Italian tongue.
After reviewing several locations, those in authority finally approved the property belonging to the Chase Transfer Company located on Federal Street on February 20, 1911. This site remains the current location of today’s St. Peter’s Church. This barn, or stable as it was described in early reporting, was ultimately converted into a chapel by the F. W. Cunningham Co., which employed many Italians. In the early days, this building was affectionately known as the “Little Church.”
Bishop John G. Murray, 5th Bishop of the Portland Diocese (1925-1931), Bishop Murray, searched long and hard to find an Italian priest for St. Peter’s. In the interim, he assigned Father Gerald Burke to minister to the needs of St. Peter's. Bishop Murray also sent Father Burke to New York to seek a suitable Italian priest to come to Portland to lead this newly formed parish for the Italian immigrants of the early 1900s in Portland.
While Father Burke's stay at St. Peter’s was brief, he helped to create a legacy for the proud Italian congregation by forming the Sodality of the Sacred Heart and organizing the first grand bazaar. The “Bazaar” continues today, celebrating the annual Feasts of the Assumption and St. Rocco each summer during August, on the second weekend of the month.
Lights are strung across the street, balloons and festive streamers decorate the block on Federal Street from India Street to Hampshire Street in front of St. Peter's Church. There will be games, music, many great food concessions, and great fellowship and camaraderie to be enjoyed during this two-day celebration.
The annual event is a large multi-day celebration that requires the help of many organized committees from the parish, along with countless volunteers who have been contributing their time and talents for decades. This is our 100th year … so in our best Italian greeting, “Buona Festa” or … “have a good Feast.”