As head kitchen manager for New Bedford's biggest party, the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament, Manuel Garcia was in charge of serving tens-of-thousands of people.

This year marks the feast's 100th anniversary, which is fast approaching. Unfortunately, it will be the first time in a decade that Garcia won't participate in the celebration – he passed away last week at 85.

“We’re going to miss him,” said Ed Camara, director of public relations for The Feast. Though Garcia was in his 80s, he hadn’t made any plans to stop his volunteer-work there. According to Camara, “He was going to work until he decided he didn’t want to work anymore.”

Camara said that work included 12 hour days leading up to and during The Feast, overseeing the work of anywhere from four to 10 others in the kitchen, as well knowing exactly how many thousands and thousands of pounds of food to order every August.

“He knew in advance (how much to order),” said Camara. He noted that Garcia was a New Bedford native, but spent most of his childhood off the coast of Portugal, on the island of Madeira. That's likely where he learned to cook Madeiran cuisine.

“For years, people who come to The Feast have been enjoying the flavors that he put together," Camara said. "Nothing left the kitchen that he didn’t taste.”

Garcia, who was Feast President in 1991, leaves a legacy as one of the most important people behind the event, and he won’t soon be forgotten.

“He will be there in spirit,” added Camara, saying he’d arranged to have a photo of Garcia laminated and hung on the wall above the steaming pots in the kitchen as a reminder of his many years volunteering there. He also noted that he wasn’t worried about finding a successor.

“He taught people well enough so you don’t need to have a written recipe to follow the things that he did,” he said.

It’s clear that some of the people of New Bedford aren’t going to forget Garcia any time soon, and the same goes for his legacy as a staple of Onset's waterfront for many, many years.

“Manny was an all-around great guy,” said Harbormaster Garry Buckminster, who was friendly with Garcia, an avid shell-fisherman and fisherman.

He said that Garcia could be seen in any weather out at Sias Point in Onset, a popular shellfishing area frequented by Garcia where his body was found after he apparently drowned on April 14.

“You’d see his green and yellow quahog skiff usually down at Sias Point or near Onset Island. He would go out regardless [of the weather]. You’d see him out there digging in the ice [for shellfish]," Buckminster said.

He added that Garcia, who also made a business building and selling lobster traps in Onset (which many locals purchased and still use), had found a rare, brown, teardrop-shaped pearl in a quahog in Onset about 10 years ago, just another example of his close relationship with the ocean and its many inhabitants.

“He was doing what he loved,” said Buckminster. “He was very knowledgeable of the waterways, and he was concerned with the fisheries and how to make them better.  He was active in the Shellfish Advisory Committee when it was formed in the late 80s and early 90s," Buckminster said. “He will be missed.”