Eastie Week, a celebration of art, music, culture, and the vibrant Eastie neighborhood itself, is underway.
East Boston residents and other guests enjoyed the celebratory kickoff to Eastie Week at a summer concert Sunday at Zumix. Mayor Michelle Wu and City Councillor Gabriela Coletta were among the dignitaries bringing the official greetings from the City of Boston.
Madeleine Steczynski, co-founder and executive director of the esteemed Zumix organization, said that the opening day concert and Music Walk featured performances by Zumix alumna Pallaf Mahdia Tully Carr, who performed her own original songs in the opening act, the Zumix AIM Pickup Band, The Hot Tamale Brass Band, and A Trike Called Funk. Also performing were ZuKix and Eastie’s own Don’t Be Denied Band.
“We’re going to be doing concerts at Piers Park every Sunday, from 6 to 8 p.m., through the end of August,” noted Steczynski. “Our next two concerts (July 16 and July 23) will be a part of Eastie Week.”
Rebecca Smerling, director of programs at Boston Harbor Now, coordinator of Eastie Week, said the event is a collaboration of organizations and businesses across the neighborhood.
“We’ve been doing this for 10 years, and even during the pandemic, we were able to do an online version of Eastie Week,” related Smerling. “It started with just one week, and now it’s grown. We have so many programs that we extended it to more than two-and-a-half weeks long. We welcome everyone from across the City to attend our events.”
Eastie Week will hold its Taste of Eastie celebration of food July 25 at the Tall Ships. Another much-anticipated event is the Tito Puente Latino Music Series July 20 at LoPresti Park.