Gustine Festa draws thousands

Many Gustine residents have moved away seeking work in the days since Will Martin was a kid growing up on his family’s dairy farm.

The annual Our Lady of Miracles Portuguese Festa, however, always seems brings them back home. “There’s not a lot of dairies around here anymore, they’re pretty much all gone, except the big ones,” said Martin, 66. “It’s harder now for the younger generations, but all the hardship hasn’t affected this tradition.”

The festa is a decades-old tradition in many California communities rooted in Portuguese culture, and the Our Lady Festa in Gustine draws thousands from all over the world during the annual 10-day event, according to Judi Gandy, executive director of the Gustine Chamber of Commerce.

“We have people from all over the country and Canada. Many are surprised to hear it, but we have a lot of people that come all the way from Portugal for the ‘Our Lady,’ ” Gandy said. “It’s the largest celebration of Our Lady of Miracles in the U.S. ‘Our Lady’ is the draw; that’s where the devotion comes from.”

Gandy admitted she was concerned excessive heat would drive attendance down for the 78th annual Our Lady celebration, but days of triple-digit temperatures didn’t seem to deter anybody. Hundreds packed the streets Sunday for “the Big Parade,” which featured the Gustine High School Marching Band and this year’s Senior Queen Morgan Nunes, as well as dozens of other bands and queens from communities all over.

Martin, like his father, uncle and grandfather before him, helps serve sopas – a traditional Portuguese soup made with fresh roasted beef and cabbage and served with day-old French bread. “We all served in the kitchen,” Martin said. “I’m the third generation. My grandfather cut the bread by hand for years.”

Official histories tend to vary the story, but the elaborate religious festival celebrates the traditions of old Portugal, honoring Queen Saint Isabella of Portugal, who was famous for feeding the poor.

Steve Olson of Patterson has been the head cook at the Gustine Festa for 26 years. This year, he and the other kitchen volunteers cooked 13,000 pounds of beef and 40 cases of cabbage while cutting 1,400 loaves of bread.

It’s a delicious tradition embraced by the younger generations of Merced County’s Portuguese descendants, kids like 17-year-old Jonathan Alamo. “I’ve been coming since I was a little kid,” he said. “It always brings my family together because it’s our culture, our heritage.”

This story was originally published September 14, 2014 at 5:41 PM with the headline "Gustine Festa draws thousands."