LUDLOW - Festa, which opened its doors for five days yesterday, has everything you would expect to find at a country fair.

There is food, live music, a midway filled with fun rides, things to buy, fireworks, beer garden, and more.

But it isn’t a country fair, it is the Our Lady of Fatima Parish Festa, which this year celebrates their 77th anniversary and dedication to Our Lady of Fatima, the Catholic reference to the Virgin Mary.

Since 1949, the Festa has celebrated the dedication of Our Lady of Fatima Parish to preserving the memory of Fatima, Portugal, where, in 1917, the Blessed Mother is believed to have appeared to three shepherd children at the Cova da Iria.

“We create a mixture of a fun fair with religious overtones over five days, but on Sunday, which is the main point of the

See Full Page