During these tough times, when getting together with fellow humans is complicated and fraught with risk, the aim of this exhibition is to find new ways to celebrate and create community. Public feasts and festivals – whether they are splashy parades through downtown, communal events in city parks and neighborhoods, religious processions, or celebrations of cultural heritage – have long been a central part of Fall River life. In this exhibition we are sharing about 250 photographs of the city’s feasts and festivals from the 1950s to the present. Over the next several months, we will also be sharing the personal memories, stories, and images that members of the Fall River community contribute along the way. This collaborative exhibition offers an opportunity for us to learn about and reflect on the city’s rich traditions as well as new ways to come together, have fun, and create meaningful connections with one another.

The exhibition photographs are selected from the archives of Fall River’s Herald News and the work of anthropologist, Andrea Klimt. The Herald News has been providing Fall River residents with city news and images of local events since 1892. UMass Dartmouth anthropologist, Andrea Klimt, has been taking photographs of Fall River’s public celebrations for over a decade and founded the collaborative photography project, Fall River Portraits (see fallriverportraits.org). 

To see the exhibition, click the “EXHIBITION PHOTOS” tab. To make a photo submission or to view your photo or other contributed photos, click the “COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS” tab. (Note: Your uploaded photo will not be immediately visible. There is an approval delay before photos appear on the website.) To share a comment, memory or story or to read the contributions of others, click on the “COMMENTS/MEMORIES/STORIES ” tab. To comment on individual photographs, click the comments bubble at the bottom left of each photograph.

The Feasts and Festivals exhibition is curated by Andrea Klimt and Debra Charlebois, Gallery Director at the BayCoast Bank Gallery at the Narrows Center for the Arts. Colin Furze, photography editor at The Herald News, selected the Herald’s photographs. Chicago History Museum staff provided invaluable advice on how to transform a face-to-face exhibition into an interactive virtual one. A UMass Dartmouth Community Engaged Research grant and support of the Narrows Center for the Arts made this exhibition possible.