R’fontein has a Festa!
What a Festa! Organisers say 3 000 people turned out for the annual Portuguese Festival held at St Antony's Catholic Church during the weekend.
The 2018 Portuguese Festival once again saw a great number of people from all walks of life come out to enjoy the culture showcased at the St Antony’s Catholic Church on Sunday, 28 October.
Despite the scorching heat, the visitors were intent on enjoying this annual event. There was plenty of entertainment to choose from and various delicious Portuguese dishes were on offer for people to taste and enjoy.
Sandra Avelar, one of the coordinators of the festival, said there was about 3 000 people who came from different corners of Randfontein, other parts of the West Rand and Gauteng as a whole.
“The whole purpose of the Festival is to showcase Portuguese culture as well as helping to raise funds for the church,” Sandra said.
Sandra added there will also be charities in the community that will benefit from the proceeds made.
“It’s become a big event on the Randfontein community calendar and the community look forward to it. Half way through the year, they start asking what the date for the event is, and this makes us proud.”
Sandra said the Festival is a lot of hard work, but aims to bring joy and satisfaction to those it hosts.
“This year was fantastic, the day was beautiful, the weather was amazing, it was so hot! And the participation was excellent. We sold 18 200l drums of Caipirinhas – a record! We sold 1 200 Pregos, over 600 chickens and over 500kgs of meat! We had awesome entertainment from Miguel Pregeiro, and amazing traditional dancers, the Bailinho, from Johannesburg and Pretoria.
“We are honestly grateful for and appreciative of all the support we got from everyone. We would love to thank the community and mostly like to thank all those involved in making this day a success.
“Part of our purpose is to give back to our communities. Even on the day we hired local residents to helps us, empowering 35 car guards, and medics etc. They helped us tremendously and we thank them.
“Also a big thank you to the Portuguese Forum for giving their support and helping us with the incredible set up of lights, decoration, flowers, etc which made the venue look beautiful!” Sandra said.
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