Local dignitaries and representatives from the city’s many cultural and religious groups gathered outside of Sacred Heart Church on Taunton Avenue last week to celebrate a $50,000 state grant awarded to East Providence that will help fund a summer of feasts, which began last weekend and will continue through the end of July.

“Summer feasts bring thousands of people into East Providence throughout the summer and highlight our diverse city, while also continuing to enrich our community's heritage, history, and culture,” said Mayor Bob DaSilva at the presenting of the check. “It is a big tourism boost to the city of East Providence.”

The city was awarded the money, which comes from the state’s “RI Rebounds” Placemaking grant program through Rhode Island Commerce, in January of 2025. It will be split eight ways into $6,250 chunks, one each going to a different cultural or religious group who puts on a summer feast in the coming weeks.

“We know that the cultural vibrancy of our communities is what makes Rhode Island so special. And so these events welcome visitors and educate them and support so many different local businesses,” said Commerce Secretary, Liz Tanner, who added that supporting the tourism industry was essential to maintaining Rhode Island’s economy. “Those industries do support a variety of the state's economic success, helping to sustain more than 86,000 jobs and generating nearly $1 billion in state and local tax revenue…A statistic I'd like to share is without that visitor-generated tax revenue, each household in Rhode Island would need to be taxed an additional $2,160 a year.”

Governor Dan McKee was also in attendance at the event, and emphasized the importance of promoting Rhode Island’s culture as a piece of the puzzle towards creating strong, connected communities that care about the mutual success of their neighbors.

“We want to make sure that people feel as though they're part of our communities, part of our state, and as a direct result, they invest their time to help us achieve the goals we've set of raising academic outcomes, raising incomes, raising health levels and building things that are going to put people to work,” he said. “But it doesn't happen without community-driven events that bring new interest in our state, extra traffic to our businesses, and highlight all of wonderful parts of not just East Providence, but all of Rhode Island as well.”

The eight groups receiving funding, and the date of their feasts, are as follows:

• Sacred Heart Church (118 Taunton Ave., May 30, 31, and June 1)
• Holy Ghost Beneficial Brotherhood of RI (Phillip Street Hall, 51 N Phillips St., June 6, 7, 8)
• Trinity Brotherhood Club (146 Sutton Ave., June 13, 14, 15)
• St. Francis Xavier Church (81 N Carpenter St., June 20, 21, 22)
• Irmandade do Senhor Bom Jesus (51 N Phillips St., June 22, 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., Procession Only)
• Theophilo Braga Club (26 Teofilo Braga Way, July 11, 12, 13)
• Holy Ghost Brotherhood of Charity (Brightridge Club, 59 Brightridge Ave., July 18, 19, 20)
• Holy Ghost Brotherhood Marines (Santa Maria Club, 846 Broadway, July 25, 26, 27)