FATACIL, which will take place in Lagoa from the 19th to the 28th of August, will this year have more space to circulate, a new, more attractive arrangement… and it will even try to beat a Guinness record.
For all this to be possible, FATACIL is under construction, as highlighted by the mayor Francisco Martins, at the official presentation of the event, on Monday. “People pass by, see the works and say they are late. They are not! I promise that they will be ready in time for FATACIL», said the mayor of Lagos.
The works, which cost 150 euros, include the construction of a new and more functional entrance portico, the removal of the fixed stage in the restaurant area, thus giving them more space, and the transformation of the nave, which will become more low, more open… and hosting, for the first time, the “aMARaTERRA” space, where all regional producers of wines, preserves, salt, liqueurs, honey, sausages, cheeses and other Algarve products come together.
Francisco Martins added that the works are necessary "for the sake of safety", but also to guarantee a new circulation inside the fair and more visibility, as soon as one enters, for important sectors, such as the “aMARaTERRA” space, in a new space. localization.
This will also be the year in which FATACIL will be organized, for the first time in many years, directly by the City Council, and not by FATASUL, an external entity that accumulated considerable losses, eventually being extinguished.
This, explained the mayor, led to some constraints, namely in hiring, but also in things as simple as the amount of cash at the box office. «To open the ticket offices every day we need 10 thousand euros in cash, for change. But we can only have 500 euros…»
The main objective of this, which is the largest generalist fair in the south of the Tagus, is now to refocus on what is the basis of its identity and difference: the Algarve.
«FATACIL, when it was born, was a showcase of the economic activities of our municipality, but slowly, slowly, Lagoa was disappearing from FATACIL, slowly, slowly, the Algarve was disappearing from FATACIL. This is precisely what we want to invert!», announced President Francisco Martins.
The first sign of this trend reversal is the fact that the “aMARaTERRA” pavilion has been moved from the corner of the fair, next to the animals, to the center, almost right at the entrance, occupying the entire covered nave, which was subjected to profound construction.
The mayor of Lagoa even assumed the commitment, before the journalists present at the press conference to present the fair, that «in the next three years, 80% of FATACIL will be the Algarve».
The equestrian sector also contributes to this more Algarvian aspect and more linked to the municipality's identity, which will bring the French rider Gari Zoher – for the first time to act in Portugal – and the Portuguese Work Equitation Champion, the Portuguese Pedro Torre, as well as the bet that this year is made in the wine sector. Or if it weren't for Lagoa, during 2016, the City of Wine at the national level.
«The Algarve is a small wine-producing region in the national context. We produce just over a million liters of wine annually. But the Algarve wines now have quality», guaranteed José Graça, regional deputy director of Agriculture, who was also present at the presentation of the event.
Therefore, one of the highlights of this edition of the fair will be the attempt to beat the record for the biggest gift in the world. The toast will be made with the the same wine from Lagoa, the Lagoa Reserva DOP 2014, which was intern at the bottom of the River Arade.
So that the record is broken and can be registered in the Guinness Book of Records, it will be necessary to have at least 1500 people to toast at the same time with the Lagoa wine. So, go ahead and schedule a trip to the fair on that day.
«The Municipality of Lagoa has already established contacts with the Guinness Book, to know what is officially needed and what the conditions are”, announced Luís Encarnação, the councilor responsible for the entire programming of Lagoa Cidade do Vinho 2016.
The attempt to break the record has already been scheduled: it will be on the night of August 27, on stage, just before Ana Moura's concert. And who knows if the singer herself will also help to break this record?…
But the wine sector will still be in strength at another level: «being Lagoa the ambassador of Portuguese wine throughout this year of 2016, each day of the fair will be dedicated to a wine region, with wine tasting, gastronomy from that region and folklore», revealed councilor Luís Encarnação.
In all, there will be 15 fixed wine exhibitors at FATACIL, plus the representation of the Algarve Wine Commission and the National Association of Wine Municipalities. But to these will have to be added the two or three producers from each region who will be at the fair every day, presenting their production.
Another bet that FATACIL continues to make every year is the quality of the musical poster, which this year costs 200 thousand euros to the organization's coffers. The responsible for this is the musician André Sardet, who recalled that the Lagoa fair «has a marked importance in the careers of many musicians». And it was precisely this characteristic that allowed him to bring Rui Veloso for almost half of his normal cachet, to the closing concert of FATACIL, on the 28th of August.
«Rui Veloso also speaks with a sparkle in FATACIL's eyes, but he had been away from our fair for many years. He is not doing many concerts, by choice, but when I told him about FATACIL he wanted to be here», added André Sardet.
Moreover, explained the musician and promoter of shows, the poster will be "very eclectic, but not repeated in other events in the Algarve." That was, Sardet assured, "one of the great cares and the great difficulties of the negotiation". And that is how, on the stage of the Lagoa fair, will pass DAMA (19 August), Anselmo Ralph (20), The Gift (21), Agir (22), Miguel Araújo (23), Quim Barreiros (24), Rita Guerra (25), Mickael Carreira (26), Ana Moura (27) and Rui Veloso (28).
Moreover, to avoid hassles when finding a place to park, this year there will be four car parks, increasing "by a lot the parking capacity", also revealed the mayor. In addition, the parks of the Aldi and Apolónia supermarkets, located a few hundred meters from the FATACIL premises, next to the road to Carvoeiro, can be used from 22 pm and free of charge.
So that there is no shortage of money for purchases, this year there will be three ATM machines in the enclosure, one of them in the restaurant area.
And to conclude the numbers: FATACIL this year cost 850 euros, of which 200 spent on the musical poster and 150 on works in progress. It will have 700 exhibitors and more than 300 visitors are expected.
Photos: Elisabete Rodrigues|Sul Informação and Kátia Viola|CMLagoa
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