Annual Festival Honoring Healing Saints Cosmas and Damian Set for Sept. 9–11

Rock & Roll, Vocal, and Grammy® Halls Fame Artist, The Platters will host fellow international headline recording artists The Trammps, Chubby Checker & The Wildcats, and Starship featuring Mickey Thomas at the 97th edition of the Italian Culture, Family, and Food Festival honoring the Italian healing Saints Cosmas and Damian on Cambridge, Warren and Porter Streets in East Cambridge, the weekend of September 9, 10, and 11, 2022.

The three-day fun family event features a wide variety of sweet and savory food, a “Beer Garden” sponsored by Anheuser-Bush, and music that spans four decades of dance, pop, and rock kicks off Friday at 6 p.m. when Saints Cosmas and Damian accompanied by members of the fraternal Society, the North End Marching Band, and the faithful process from their permanent home at 17 Porter Street in East Cambridge to the outdoor chapel overlooking the festival concourse on Warren Street. At 7 p.m., a special healing service with the holy relics of Saints Cosmas and Damian led by Monsignor Anthony Spinosa (formerly from East Cambridge) from the National Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon will take place.

At 7:30 p.m., teleport with Morning Magic co-host David O’Leary (MAGIC 106.7 FM) and Club Classic DJ Ricky P. (former STAR FM) at the Warren Street Stage and dance under the stars to the hottest club classics along with an exceptional live performance by disco greats The Trammps (Disco Inferno, Hold Back the Night, That’s Where the Happy People Go, Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart…). On Friday, be “where all the happy people go” at the outdoor “Warren Street Disco,” where partiers can also take a shot at walking away with a $500.00 grand cash prize at a Throwback Disco Dance Contest.

On Saturday, the festivities begin at 1 p.m. as the savory aromas of pizza, fried dough, Italian sausages, peppers, Zeppole’s, and much more permeate the air around Cambridge, Porter, and Warren Streets, along with continual live entertainment.

Beginning at 7 p.m., the Feast area expands to include the Cambridge Street Stage igniting an evening of song and dance as festival attendees rock through the decades as they twist the night away with the legendary Chubby Checker & The Wildcats (Twist, Let’s Twist Again, Limbo Rock, The Hucklebuck…), and rock on with the architects of the city built on Rock & Roll, Starship featuring Mickey Thomas, jamming to their mega hits that include We Built This City, Nothings Gonna Stop Us, Sara, It’s Not Over. Between Checker and Starship, they’ll be a special surprise Rock & Roll Hall of Fame performance taking concertgoers on a musical journey through the decades of music from the 50s to today. Around the corner on the Warren Street Stage, New England’s favorite party group, Vinyl Groove, performs with continuous dancing under the stars.

The grand finale of the Feast on Sunday begins at 10 a.m. with Boston Auxiliary Bishop Peter Uglietto as the principal celebrant of a Mass in honor of the Healing Saints Cosmas and Damian on the Warren Street Stage. At 1 p.m., the grand procession with the Saints, accompanied by the North End Marching Band, St. Alfio’s Marching Band, and the award-winning Everett High School Marching Band under the direction of Gene O’Brien, winds through the streets of East Cambridge and Sommerville.

Local favorites Stephen Savio’s Seabreeze and Smokin’ Joe and his band entertain throughout the day as the food and fun flow through the streets. The parade arrives back on Warren Street at 7 pm for a welcome back celebration featuring a confetti shower followed by a LIVE performance in honor of the Saints by The Platters (Only You, Great Pretender, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, Twilight Time…) performing their classic hits, some old Italian classics selected and arranged specifically for this celebration including a sneak preview of new music being added to the Great American soundtrack by the group in more than six decades later this year. For Feast and vendor information, call (617)-407-1256 or visit www.cosmas-and-damian.org.

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