The Carolina Deslandes concert on the evening of Saturday (May 10) and the Batalha das Flores parade on the afternoon of Sunday (May 11) are two of the highlights of the Flower Festival, which this weekend invites you to visit Vila Nova de Famalicão.
From Friday to Sunday, the city is decked out to welcome all those who want to see the city transformed into a veritable garden, with thousands of flowers colouring the heart of Famalicão.
‘The city is dressed in colour, in joy, in a festival that has the particularity of involving various associations and traders, combining culture and popular tradition in an event made by the people and for the people,’ says the mayor, Mário Passos.
There will be three days of festivities with exhibitions, workshops, parades, music, gastronomy and flower sales, with the participation of around forty cultural groups and floristry companies from the municipality who will be present in the area dedicated to the flower and plant trade, at the top north of Praça D. Maria II (Praceta Cupertino de Miranda).
In total, more than a hundred institutions are involved in the various initiatives that will take place in the city over these three days.
The event also has a vast cultural programme associated with the Flower Festival, with street entertainment, an exhibition of floral ornaments, workshops in artistic ceramics, painting, embroidery, decorative arts, terrariums, paper flowers, children's theatre and musical shows: on Friday with concertinas through the streets of the city (15h00 to 19h00), a concert by Helena Fernandes (21h30) and the “Chão de Estrelas” project, which brings together various guest artists and the instrumental participation of the Banda Marcial de Arnoso Santa Maria and The Village Ensemble (22h30). On Saturday there are concerts by Joaquim Carneiro and guests (20h30) and Maria Silva (21h30), which precedes Carolina Deslandes' show (10h30).
The Battle of Flowers, on Sunday afternoon, brings around three dozen associations to the streets of the city, with more than 1,200 people involved, who, with their floats, colourful costumes and props and lots of flowers, put on a parade full of colour, joy and excitement through the main streets of the city centre.
The festival closes with a concert by the Famalicão Band in Praceta Cupertino de Miranda. All this takes place free of charge on the stages set up in Praça D. Maria II.
The full programme for the Famalicão Flower Festival can be found at here.
