A Nineteen Day Feast was celebrated in New York City, the first known to have been held in North America. [BFA2:XVI, 245]
It consisted of a devotional portion and a social part. The administrative aspect of the Feast was developed in the 1930s. [BFA2:245; SA208]
Howard and Mary MacNutt, along with Julia Grundy, had been on pilgrimage early in the year and had been encouraged to hold Feasts by 'Abdu'l-Bahá.
In a meeting of NY Board of Council at the home of Mr. Arthur Pillsbury Dodge on the 19th of May, Mr. Howard MacNutt described a Nineteen Day Feast he had attended in Acca. The Board then planned the First Nineteen Day Feast to be held the following Tuesday, June 2nd at the home of Mr. Fleming. [Highlights of the First 40 Years of the Bahá’í Faith in New York, City of the Covenant, 1892-1932 by Hussein Ahdieh p10]