Community keeps spirit of Christmas alive

By INÊS LOPES [email protected]

The spirit of Christmas was all around in Carvoeiro last weekend as local businesses put on a major festive event at the main square to help boost trade in the town.

Visitors and residents were able to get in a festive mood while visiting the town’s second Christmas fair, which included a variety of stalls selling handicraft, homemade produce, mulled wine and liquors, photographic art and beauty products, live music, Santa parades and a horse show.

What started off as a quiet affair on Wednesday, December 14, with stallholders concerned about a lack of business, turned out to be a real community, fun-filled event by the weekend with many locals and holidaymakers joining in the party mood.

On Saturday, African rhythms from Beto Kalulu got everyone dancing at the square while on Sunday, bikers from Moto Clube Lagoa dressed as Santa paraded through the town, with a horse show and Portuguese sounds from José Maria & Amigos contributing to the fun.

Two open fires were aflame in the centre of the square to keep everyone warm and the party going into the evening hours.

José Maria & Amigos brought the best of Portuguese traditional music.

The Christmas fair was organised by Carvoeiro’s Vozes Intensas Association of Business Owners and Residents and counted on the support of Lagoa Câmara and the local parish council.

Graça Novo Caetano of Vozes Intensas Association told the Algarve Resident: “This is the second Christmas fair we organise to get the town in the festive mood at this particularly quiet time of the year.

“This year, we have been positively surprised by the way the event has turned out, with local residents and businesses coming together and making the fair truly enjoyable and fun even if sales weren’t as expected.”

Open log fires kept everyone warm into the evening hours.

The association is now planning an Easter fair, which Graça Novo Caetano says will be an event to look forward to as “the community realises the importance of sticking together to fight the crisis”.

Do you have a view on this story? Please email Editor Inês Lopes at [email protected]
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