Super Bowl
While most Boston bars leaned red, white, and blue, a Union Street cantina teamed up with its neighbor to give Seattle fans a place of their own.
Seattle Seahawks fans watch pre-game festivities on Super Bowl Sunday at Alma Cantina. Samantha Genzer
On Super Bowl Sunday, many Boston bars catered to New England Patriots fans. But for Seattle Seahawks fans living deep in Patriots territory, they weren’t left out in the cold.
Alma Cantina, a Mexican restaurant on Union Street near Faneuil Hall, partnered with neighboring White Bull Tavern to host a dedicated Seahawks watch party. Alma Cantina welcomed members of the Boston Seahawk Fan group on Facebook, while overflow crowds filled the White Bull.
Both restaurants were fully reserved and expected to reach capacity, with Alma Cantina alone logging more than 100 reservations, not including walk-ins, said general manager Joshua Kasanoff.
About two years ago, Kasanoff said the restaurant was looking to become a designated bar for a specific fanbase. That search led him to Brenna Stuart, who runs the Boston Seahawks Fan group. Stuart asked if the restaurant could host the group’s watch parties, and the partnership quickly took off.
“It kind of just fell into our laps,” Kasanoff said.
The Facebook group started about 13 years ago, Stuart said. A Seattle native, she lived in Boston for 10 years and started the group while trying to find places to watch Seahawks games.
“That was before Direct TV or any of that. You couldn’t just watch it wherever you want,” she said. “I started the Facebook group, and I thought, ‘Wouldn’t this be great if I could just get two people to come watch with me?’”
Now, the group regularly draws dozens of fans, especially when the Seahawks face the Patriots on the sport’s biggest stage.
-
15 takeaways from Patriots’ loss in Super Bowl LX
-
Drake Maye and the Patriots take on Sam Darnold and the Seahawks in Super Bowl 60
For attendee Callie Enfield, the watch party offered more than just a screen. Enfield, who moved to Boston from Seattle about eight years ago, is a lifelong Seattle fan, growing up attending games with her parents, who have been season ticket holders since 2002.
“I’m looking forward to meeting more Seahawks fans [and] having a bit more of a community than maybe we haven’t had in past years,” she said.
Stephanie Trinka, another lifelong fan who moved east six years ago after living in Seattle, said she found the Facebook group while searching for others to watch games with. Now, she regularly joins the group at watch parties.
Trinka described the atmosphere as energetic but welcoming.
“We’re going to be excited just to support the Seahawks,” she said. “It’s a very positive, supportive fanbase. We’re not too rowdy, and we don’t have a jail cell in our stadiums like some other teams do.”
Some fans, however, said friendly rivalry was still part of the experience.
“I often go to one of the bars around the corner, so that way I can go over there and heckle them at halftime, hopefully,” Enfield said.
For Ramon Partida, watching the Super Bowl in Boston carries lingering memories. The last time the Seahawks faced the Patriots on this stage, in 2015, ended with Malcolm Butler’s goal-line interception — a moment Partida said is still hard to escape in the city.
“It’s everywhere in Boston, so I can never forget it,” he said. “But tonight is going to be different.”
Trinka said the rematch stirred a sense of nostalgia.
“I can’t believe it’s happening again,” she said. “It almost feels like a dream.”
Gavin Dowling, a longtime Seahawks fan, came to Alma Cantina with his girlfriend, Martha Wilson. They originally planned to watch the Super Bowl at another bar, but Dowling said it would have been dominated by Patriots fans.
“I didn’t want to just spend the whole night getting heckled, and if [the] Pats are losing, which I expect to happen, I didn’t want to be an outcast,” he said. “So I said we come here and watch the game.”
Kasanoff said creating a home base for Seahawks fans in Boston is what makes hosting worthwhile.
“All these Seattle fans, they move here, they work here, they live here,” he said. “They want to find a place where they are back at home, and it’s nice to have that.”
Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
