Family, food and soccer celebrated at the Onset Cape Verdean Festival

Melissa Nascimento hugged a new person every minute.

She and her family gather with relatives and friends every August at the Onset Cape Verdean Festival. She used to host family reunions at her house in Onset.Now, they meet under the same tree a short walk from the Lillian Gregerman Bandshell.

For the Nascimentos, who are Cape Verdean and part Senegalese, the festival allows them to celebrate their heritage together. They wore shirts adorned with the nation’s flag. Melissa made a large pot of cachupa, a traditional stew dish, to share with others. “We need to keep the culture going for future generations,” she said. She says the festival helps keep it alive.

But more importantly, it’s an opportunity to come together. Desmond, Melissa’s son, said many of their relatives live in other cities: Brockton, Providence, Boston.

“The festival is the one place where, if you don’t see family all year, you’ll see them here,” he said.

Thousands of visitors reunited and celebrated the small island nation’s culture on Saturday, Aug. 8. People of all ages danced to music from across generations in front of the bandshell’s stage. Around 70 vendors sold art, clothing and jewelry tied to Cape Verde’s history. Festival-goers dined on jag and pastel. At its core, it was a celebration of togetherness.

Some visitors and vendors come across the country for the festival. Joni Paulo returns to Onset from Los Angeles every summer for the festival. 

“This is my childhood,” she said. “I love celebrating my culture and the land of my grandparents.”

Since 2020, her daughter, Jasmine, who has autism, has designed and sold jewelry and suncatchers shaped like birds. Joni said that being able to sell at the festival gives Jasmine a sense of purpose and allows her to express herself in her own way.

The festival celebrated Cape Verde, but it welcomed all. While many attendees had roots in the nation, many did not. Niall O’Donnell, who hails from Ireland and lives in Onset, has gone to the festival for the past 15 years in large part for the music and food. But he also goes to see his former soccer teammates, many of whom are Cape Verdean, from when he played in the Luso American Soccer League.

Soccer was a theme at this festival. Many at the festival said the soccer team “put Cape Verde on the map” after its success in the 2026 World Cup. Lots of visitors sported jerseys of Vozinha, the team’s star goalie. 

Eden Soares, Nascimento’s cousin and a t-shirt designer, created a special soccer jersey commemorating Vozinha’s play in the World Cup. He said that his friend, a Miss Universe contestant who knew the goalie, brought one of the shirts to him to take a photo with it. 

Vozinha then told her, “Let me get a large.” Soares said he was amazed when he heard the news.

The front of the shirt reads, “Defying All Odds Since 1975,” the year the country gained independence. It reminds people of how the country overcame Portuguese colonization and drought, and is still standing.

Despite all the struggles, Soares said, the Cape Verdean people maintain a warm, friendly spirit which they call “mora beza.” That was on full display on Saturday, as people embraced, ate and danced together throughout the festival.

The festival is “a reminder of our independence. It reminds us of how proud we are of our history, our culture, our music, our people,” Soares said.