In 1794 the Gremi de Bastaixos de la plaça Nova (Porters Guild of the Plaça Nova), located in the square and under the patronage of Mare de Déu de la Victòria -the image of which was in the tower of the Diocese of the square-, bestowed a flag of Sant Roc to the neighbors who organized the celebrations of the saint, in which the guild also participated for years. Soon the Flag dels Bastaixos became an essential element of the feast of Sant Roc and of the Entourage, which, from 1780 until 1835, went to the church of Sant Gaietà, located in the current Portal de l'Àngel .
The Plaça Nova, since its birth in 1355, was the vital, commercial and social center of the Cathedral Quarter. From the first moment it was the space of the city that hosted all kinds of markets in the shelter of which appeared all kinds of family businesses, inns and hostels that would last well into the twentieth century. These old-time neighbors, “Xacó”, Tòfol cansalader, Guimet dels billars, Pontí daurador, Pepeta caball ... were the spontaneous responsibles of the popular festivities that formed the Comissió de Festes de Sant Roc de la Plaça Nova i carrers adjacents (Feast Committee of Sant Roc and the Plaça Nova and its adjacent streets). Of this Feast Committee, apart from the chronicles of the time, no official documents were kept, but we consider it to be the precursor of the current Feast Association of the Plaça Nova.
The celebrations during the first third of the nineteenth century went on adding new activities and festive elements that became tradition: the water of Sant Roc, the ring, the rosary sung by choir boys of Can Marraco, the small temple in the middle of the square -which was the same one used during Carnaval-, el Porró Llarg -brought by Caterina Xacó from Mataro in 1830- or soirees and evening dances. This whole popular and neighborhood world was splendidly represented in 1870 by Frederic Soler, Serafí Pitarra, in his "La Festa del Barri".
