Thousands celebrate family, culture and 50 years of independence at Cape Verdean Festival

In the same place that many past relatives first landed in America, people from across the country gathered in Onset to celebrate all things Cape Verdean.

The annual Onset Cape Verdean festival brought thousands of people to Prospect Park Saturday, Aug. 9 where live Cape Verdean inspired music rang out from the bandshell, over one hundred vendors set up shop and families gathered to celebrate their heritage.

“It’s just a really great family event with great music and great atmosphere,” said Dana Roderick who has been helping organize the festival for nearly 20 years.

While the festival has been drawing bigger and bigger crowds for over 20 years, this year's festival was a little extra special because it celebrated the 50th anniversary of Cape Verde declaring independence from Portugal.

“It’s just very impactful for everyone,” she said.

Roderick added the 6 hour festival is much more than a celebration, it acts as a family reunion for Cape Verdeans across the South Coast.

Clyde Wilkins came from Connecticut with his family and met up with relatives living in Brockton and Boston which he said they do every year.

“I’ve always loved the food, the music, seeing my cousin Stevie at the bar and just everybody coming together,” Wilkins said. “It’s really just a family thing.”

Early on in the festival, Wilkins was waiting to meet some family members for the first time. He said there is a website that connects Cape Verdeans to others through a DNA test and he was going to meet them at the festival.

For many, the South Coast serves as a special place in their family history because many Cape Verdeans came to America in the area before venturing elsewhere.

“Our grandparents came through here and then immigrated to Connecticut and different areas,” Wilkins said. “To come back here is like reliving history.”

Joseph Lopes of Dennis has been coming to the festival for many years and had a similar message, saying he and his family come every year.

“I see more and more people coming and I see more and more Cape Verdeans coming out,” Lopes said.

He also stressed the importance of the younger generation in his family being there and seeing Cape Verdeans come together.

“It’s really good and my nephew is half Wampanoag so his kids are growing up Wampanoag and Cape Verdean so they get to learn two cultures, you can’t beat it,” he said.

Surrounding the park were a number of vendors with authentic Cape Verdean and west African crafts such as Patty Sylvia who makes jewelry using the Conta De Ojo, a black and white bead that signifies the number of angels watching over the wearer.

“When we were babies my mom would take one bead and pin it on our diaper.” Sylvia said. “I remember growing up as a teenager we would pin the bead on the inside of our bra.”

Sylvia has been making jewelry with the beads since 2012 and now with her daughter’s help, she is incorporating the Ponderosa Creola, a symbol to show the strength of Cape Verdean women.

“If you look into Cape Verde and the Cape Verdean Islands you will see the women are the dominant force that run the house and take care of it,” she said. “The women are like the glue holding everything together.”

The opening musical act for the event was Cape Verdean Roots with special guest Lori Gomes. Gomes grew up in Wareham and dedicated her first performance at the bandshell to her grandmother Viola Gomes who passed away 21 years to the day.

“It really meant so much to me because my grandmother was a lover of music and art and she was always here,” she said.