The thought of Olhão’s socialist party mayor failing to hang on to the council presidency in the October 1st elections has been enough to secure the support of the Prime Minister who is travelling south to open the city’s annual Seafood Festival on Thursday.
António Costa will inaugurate the 32nd Olhão Seafood Festival on August 10th, accompanied by the Minister of the Sea, Ana Paula Vitorino, and the Secretary of State for Fisheries, José Apolinário.
The presence of the PM and his entourage id designed to boost the popularity of the socialist party at a time when the mayor, António Pina, is on his back foot, battling allegations of electoral fraud and the illegal collection of local taxes from the island of Armona.
The mayor’s ‘chameleon defence’ for the islanders of Culatra, hoping to save their homes from the wrecking ball, has just been rejected by a court and one of his trusted supporters, Ditza Reis faces court over a missing €4 million from a hotel development.
The new wastewater treatment plant has yet to be built between Olhão and Faro, allowing the sweet smell of defeat to waft over the city, and the water system, streets, pavements and infrastructure await their long-promised upgrades.
Despite a long-running and widespread ban on harvesting shellfish in the Ria Formosa, mainly due to the raw sewage flowing daily into the lagoon from a outflow near the island ferry ticket office, the largest gastronomic event in the south of the country is going ahead while offering “the best seafood and bivalves that the Portuguese sea and the Ria Formosa have to offer.”
Whether the PM’s visit can make people forget the reality of living one of the Algarve’s poorest council areas, remains to be seen, as does the result of the forthcoming election.
In previous years, many of the Seafood Festival’s crustaceans have been imported as they do not grown in Portugal’s sea areas, with this year’s offers of local shellfish, oysters, prawns, clams, cockles and cataplana destined to be consumed by the tonne.
As well as seafood, there will be a range of musicians and singers performing over the five nights of the festival with artists Tony Carreira (August 10), Richie Campbell (August 11), DAMA (August 12), Diogo Piçarra (August 13), Nelson Freitas (August 14) and Seu Jorge (August 15) with ticket prices between six and nine euros recognised as affordable.
The organisers, council company Fenisma, says the quality of shellfish and bivalves will be maintained over the six days, “cooked as only the Olhanense know,” and hopes the festival will attract record crowds.
Also starting this coming Friday, and continuing for nine days, (August 11th to 20th), is the Silves Medieval Fair in the historic centre of the city whre from 6.00pm each night, visitors will have the chance to watch tournaments and events in the castle, eat, drink and don medieval garb available in changing rooms so as to get into the spirit of things.
According to the Silves mayor, Rosa Palma, "The Silves Medieval Fair is one of the anchor events in our municipality, an event that allows us simultaneously to address issues related to our history and heritage, promoting tourism in our territory and promoting cultural actions that make us a destination that appeals to various sectors of the public."
"... the Medieval Fair of Silves is an event of great importance and significance for the municipality," said Palma.
