Sent at 2016-07-25 | Culture

More than twenty-five thousand people attended the call and responded positively to the challenge posed by the Town Council of Ribeira Grande and made the Sixteenth Century Fair into an annual event with a strong impact on the local economy. If there were still any doubts, they were dissipated this year. The fair has room to continue to grow and deserves its annual periodicity.

The number of visitors over the four-day festival broke all previous records, largely exceeding the expectations of the organisation and of the entrepreneurs who associated themselves with the event, thus emphasising that the annual periodicity assigned to this fair by the current city council executive is more than justified.

“A festival of this size needs to be held every year”, said Alexandre Gaudêncio, chairman of the municipality who played the role of mayor at the fair. “Over these four days we welcomed more than twenty-five thousand people in Ribeira Grande and this largely contributes to the boosting of the local economy”, he stated.

Alexandre Gaudêncio did not hide his satisfaction with the success of the event. “It's not every day that we see Ribeira Grande with so many people in a single event and this only confirms the appropriateness of our stake. When we decided to make the Sixteenth Century Fair an annual event, we were also considering the dynamics that it would print into the local economy and the satisfaction of the entrepreneurs speaks for itself”, he highlighted.

Thus, the chairman of the town council guaranteed that the “Sixteenth Century Fair of Ribeira Grande is to be held every year, as these type of events create opportunities for traders and foster employment in the municipality.”

Over four days, the Sixteenth Century Fair relived the times experienced by islanders, amongst pirates and volcanoes, with a varied set of historical recreations and different moments of entertainment that caught the attention of thousands of people of various age groups.