Lagoa council says it is committed to bringing back the soul to Fatacil* at the 36th edition of the exhibition and music festival which in recent years has been allowed to slide into deficit and indifference.
The fair this year (21 to 30 August) is hosting about 700 exhibitors, of which half are new to the venue and all aim to represent the best the Algarve offers in the categories of handicraft, tourism, agriculture, trade and industry.
This year the organisers expect around 170,000 visitors and the theme is ‘Wine and the Vine’ with the major wine regions represented by producers from all over Portugal.
Another key ingredient is the music which this year is full of well-known artists.
Fatacil started in 1980 as the Regional Lagoa Fair to showcase a few products from local producers. In fact there were 12 exhibitors and the nine-day event was visited by just over 1,500 people.
Over the years, the event grew steadily but the crisis hit hard and Fatasul, the council-owned company set up to run the show, started to report losses that became increasingly hard to explain away in the council’s annual report.
The poorlçy managed Fatasul** company is being wound up later this year and there is increasing hope that the losses the council will have to take on will have been reduced significantly after the 2015 show takings have been accounted for.
Fatacil remains the largest fair in southern Portugal and this year the organisers do seem re-invigorated as the country eases itself from recession with a record number of tourists due to visit the country.
"It is a hallmark event for the Algarve, even for our country. It is true that it has been losing strength in recent years, but we started the revitalisation of the event last year, successfully, and this year we will improve even further," said the president of Lagoa council, Francisco Martins at the Fatacil 2015 presentation hosted at the award-winning winery, Quinta dos Vales.
The mayor said that this year's fair "is recovering its spirit and again will be a big party" and that last year's figures had shown "an increase in the number of visitors and exhibitors," if not in profit.
As the show ground is open anyway and people will be in party mood, there will be after hours parties from 1.00 to 3.00am on the last three nights.
Music:
Dia 21 – Carminho
Dia 22 – Os Azeitonas
Dia 23 – David Carreira
Dia 24 – The Black Mamba
Dia 25 – Quim Barreiros
Dia 26 – Amor Electro
Dia 27 – João Pedro Pais
Dia 28 – Richie Campbell
Dia 29 – Daniela Mercury
Dia 30 – Anselmo Ralph
* Fatacil - 'Feira de Artesanato, Turismo, Agricultura, Comércio e Indústria de Lagoa'
** Fatasul - 'Feiras e Exibições do Sul'
Comments
The 1,500 visitor number was in Fatacil's first year - 1980.
The entry cost for 2015 as noted on the www.fatacil.com.pt website is €3.50 per person, or €12.50 for a family ticket for 4 , although there were complaints last year that many were given away so nobody knew the actual visitor numbers.
Last year the fair attracted “close to 150,000 visitors” and the number of those actually paying to get in was “up by more than 50% compared to 2013."
To 2014, Fatacil had accumulated losses of around €700,000, a current balance has proved rather hard to unearth...
Ed