The Regional Secretary for Youth, Professional Qualification and Employment, Maria João Carreiro, announced at the opening of the Atlantic Gastronomy and the Craft Fair that the Municipal Market of Praia da Vitória will have a “Terceira in a Box” store that will showcase and sell handicrafts certified by the Artesanato dos Açores brand. Vânia Ferreira, Mayor of Praia da Vitória, considers that opening the space, which should happen early next year, translates into an opportunity to boost the municipal market and a new incentive for local artisans.

“This partnership with the Government of the Azores is based on our commitment to enhance municipal infrastructures and local production. Handicrafts are undoubtedly a growing sector, increasingly attractive and dynamic, which can mean an opportunity for complementary income or even a professional path “, pointed out the Mayor. “It is another addition to our tourist offer and to the valorization of the municipal market, which will be the target of further requalification investments,” she added.

Regarding the Atlantic Gastronomy Fair, Vânia Ferreira stressed the Professional School of Praia da Vitória’s role in organizing this event that “marks and qualifies the Beach Festivities.”

“The Atlantic Gastronomy Fair is a landmark of these Festivities and a consolidated and accredited event in the national calendar of events promoting Portuguese gastronomy. The partnership with the Professional School of Praia da Vitória guarantees this event’s excellence, an association that we always want to feed and strengthen “, she stressed.

The Atlantic Gastronomy Fair will remain open until August 13, as part of the Praia Festivities, with eight restaurants, three delicatessens, and three confectioneries.

The Porto restaurant Cufra and the restaurant Geiko, with traditional Japanese cuisine, are debuts at the fair. Tasca do Ramo Grande, Do Dia para a Noite, Típico, Tasca Algarvia, Académico, and Casa Caetano are in another edition.

Also present are the charcuterie Bísaro, Damar, and Marquês Alentejano, as are the sweets o Capote, Doce Amêndoa, and Queijadinhas da Anita.

“In each of these spaces, it is possible to find the best of its geographical area, offering us unique and unrepeatable flavors,” pointed out Vânia Ferreira.

On occasion, taking advantage of the opening of the two fairs and highlighting the importance of craft production, the Mayor of Praia da Vitória challenged the Azores Craft and Design Center and the Professional School of Praia da Vitória to build synergies that lead young people to discover and see crafts as a professional future.

“Today, more than ever, local and artisanal productions are in fashion. The various world contingencies, the constraints arising from globalization, and the global uncertainties have increased the attention on proximity and locality”, declared Vânia Ferreira.

The Mayor encouraged the search for “synergies between the Azores Crafts Center and the Azores Vocational School that bring the discovery of Crafts to the youngest,” introducing “manual production in schools” not only “as a mere subject of visual or technological education, but as a space of knowledge and creativity.”

“It is urgent that manual activity regain the status it had during our grandparents’ time. He argued, not in a logic of nostalgia, but in a perspective of the future of life, of the ability to overcome and solve everyday challenges without resorting to algorithms or other artificialities “.

The Mayor concluded by saying that we should look at “our Craft Fairs not only as repositories of ancestral activities” but “as centers of production and generation of wealth and culture,” this being the vision that the municipality intends to “continue to deepen.”

This news story is from Diário Insular, José Lourenço, director.

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Cultures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Medial Alliance)  at California State University, Fresno.