PEABODY — The mouth-watering smell of linguica, pierogies, empanadas and other delicious dishes rolled over thousands of people packing Main Street for the city’s annual International Festival Sunday.
This year also marked 40 years since the festival was first held in 1984.
Festival goers waited in lines as long as the street’s width at many booths to chow down on cuisine from cultures around the world. Vendors served dishes from Venezuela, Portugal, Ireland, Brazil, Haiti, Japan, Greece, Poland and Mexico, just to name a few of the cultures represented Sunday.
“We’re having pastelitos right now, that’s from the Dominican stand, then we’re probably going to go over to the Portuguese one and get some fried dough,” Peabody resident Heather LeMay said as she ate by the benches in Peabody Square Sunday afternoon.
But the festival is more than its good food.
“I love spending time with my kids down here and getting them to see all the different cultures, and just seeing the community coming together,” LeMay said.
That was the goal of a booth hosted by the Welcome Immigrant Network (WIN) near the festival’s artisan market on Foster Street.
Located in Salem, the organization aims to support and advocate for immigrants on the North Shore. Founder Elsabel Rincon was joined by volunteers like Salem Academy seniors Yasmeen Khan and Briana Pilar Moya in spreading that message Sunday by inviting people to add a flag representing their ethnicity to a large heart.
“It’s been really exciting to see people of all ages, from children to older folks, looking for their flags and sharing stories about how their grandparents migrated from another country or how they migrated (themselves), or telling their children ‘this is your heritage’, and being proud,” Rincon said.
“There was one woman who took the Saudi Arabia flag and kissed it before she placed it, and that was the most touching moment for me today,” she continued.
That woman was Khan’s mother. While the family is Pakistani, much of their cultural and religious identity stems from Saudi Arabia, Khan said.
Volunteering at the booth was a part of Khan and Moya’s school service projects. Through her project, Khan wants to create a culture day at Salem Academy “since it is such a diverse school,” she said.
“We need to celebrate that, because a lot of schools don’t have that privilege that we do,” she said.
WIN found that in 2019, about 16,600 immigrants lived in Peabody, Salem, Danvers and Beverly. Most came from the Dominican Republic, Brazil, India, Italy and Canada, and in all, immigrants on the North Shore contributed $2.5 billion to the region’s gross domestic product that year (about 11% of the total), according to data from the organization.
It’s the contributions of immigrants past and present who have helped make the region so great, Mayor Ted Bettencourt said during the festival.
“People from around the world came to America, came to Peabody to build better lives for themselves, for their families, and in doing so, made our city very strong and a place where so many enjoy and live,” he said. “It’s something to celebrate.”
In between cultural performances from bands and dance troupes on the festival’s main stage in Peabody Square, Bettencourt presented the festival’s annual Peter Torigian Memorial International Festival Spirit Award to a community member who has gone above and beyond in their contributions to the city.
This year’s award was given to Tim Brown, chief innovation and strategy officer for Northeast Arc.
Brown has helped bring new businesses to downtown Peabody over the last five years, including Breaking Grounds Café and Peabody’s Black Box Theater, and has helped provide jobs for people of all abilities in the city, Bettencourt said.
“Whenever Peabody needs Tim’s vision, energy and talent, he is there, willing to help and lend a hand,” Bettencourt said.
Northeast Arc was one of many local organizations with booths at Sunday’s festival. From Scouting troops to churches, visitors got a taste of their community on top of delicious foods.
Members of the Universal Church on Main Street donning shirts in Brazilian colors helped spread that sense of community at the festival. They spoke to visitors about mental health awareness in honor of Suicide Prevention and Awareness Month, held each September.
“Seeing the people here, how the community is getting together, it’s very important,” said church member Cristian Lima.
The festival also hosted small businesses selling art and jewelry, among other goods, and had a kids zone at East End Veterans Memorial Park on Walnut Street.
The festival draws more than 50,000 people each year. With last year’s festival canceled because of rain and the pandemic canceling the event for two years, Sunday was only the second time it’s been held since 2019.
“This is what America looks like,’ Essex County District Attorney Paul Tucker said while looking over Main Street’s crowd. “This is amazing. We’re blessed on the North Shore.”
Contact Caroline Enos at CEnos@northofboston.com.