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For three days of May 1844, Kensington was on fire.
That year, tensions between the Irish Catholic immigrants and nativist Protestants boiled over, leading to an anti-immigration riot from May 6 to 8 that destroyed over 30 Irish homes and businesses near the Nanny Goat Market, the gathering space for Irish Americans at the time. The original St. Michael’s Church building in that area was also burnt down and several members of Philly’s Irish community were killed or injured, with hundreds displaced.
“If you’ve ever seen the movie ‘Gangs of New York’ by Martin Scorsese, there’s a very violent opening scene,” said Kevin Brett, a seventh-generation Kensington resident and Irish-American. “If you can imagine that scene happening in that neighborhood for three days in a row, that’s essentially what happened.”
Today, you wouldn’t know too much about those three days of intense violence and upheaval walking around the Olde Kensington neighborhood. But that changes after this weekend.
On Saturday, a Pennsylvania Historical Marker recognizing the Kensington Riots of 1844 will go up near N. American and Master streets, and the inaugural Nanny Goat Fest will take place along American Street, celebrating the resilient community that returned after the last fires were put out, and the others that have come to Kensington since.
The day’s events begin with a memorial mass at St. Michael’s at noon, followed by the historical marker ceremony at 1 p.m. The Irish-themed street festival follows after those, from 2 to 8 p.m.
The street festival, presented in part by the Friendly Sons and Daughters of St. Patrick, will feature live bands, vendors and food trucks. Main stage bands include the Bare Knuckle Boxers, the Shanty’s and the John Byrne Band. There will also be an Irish dancing showcase and “trad session” tent, for informal gatherings for musicians to play Irish tunes together.
Brett is the chair of the Nanny Goat Fest and applicant of the historical marker. Trying to get the marker was a New Year’s resolution he made with his wife, after he learned about the riots and was surprised it wasn’t something he knew about sooner.
“Strolling around Olde Kensington, there is really no indication of this profound and significant event that occurred,” he said. “And so it dawned on me that it seemed like a good candidate for one of the blue historical markers that you see everywhere around the city.”
Brett said that Kensington’s history is often overlooked. There are hundreds of state historical markers around Philly’s municipal area, but he said just three are in Kensington.
Of course, the festival is not a celebration of the riots. Brett said it’s an acknowledgment of the riots and a celebration of the resilience of those who came back and rebuilt, presented in a format everyone can enjoy.
“I think this is a story that people should know and that people will be interested in but they may not always seek it out,” he said. “And so in order to tell the story effectively in a way, you kind of want to meet people where they are. And who doesn’t love a street festival?”
The hope is that Saturday’s Nanny Goat Festival is successful enough to warrant making it an annual event, another Irish heritage celebration on Philly’s calendar. Given that the planning for the festival only began in October, after the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission approved the historical marker, Brett said he would love to see what the festival’s planning committee could do with 12 months to plan.
The local vendors and community organizations involved include diverse cultures “of all stripes,” Brett said. Learning more about the riots for the marker for the application, he said he was also surprised about how much it lines up with the overlooked communities and negative perceptions that Kensington continues to face today.
Brett acknowledges that Olde Kensington today is a far different picture of the greater Kensington area than the picture of Kensington and Allegheny avenues that’s usually portrayed. He said he wants the festival’s main aim of growing the awareness of the 1844 riots to also serve as an instructive exercise for people to also see the cultures and groups being overlooked today.
“I think Kensington has a sort of a resilient spirit, just in terms of what it represents,” Brett said. “The people who live there have always reflected that.”
