One of the biggest and best Gastronomic Festivals starts this Friday night, and runs for 10 nights.
This year, the City Council’s investment in Machico Gastronomic Week is breaking records, with a value of over 300 thousand euros for the 10 days of entertainment. Another new feature of this 37th edition is the fact that the local authority is offering three days of free transport from various parishes in the municipality.
“It is an investment in an event that identifies Machico and that is very important for us, both from the point of view of promotion, but also for the local economy, attracting audiences to taste our delicacies”, pointed out Ricardo Franco, at the public presentation of the event that took place in the main hall of the City Council.
From gastronomy to music, Ricardo Franco highlighted the “diverse range of musical and cultural entertainment” at the event, which starts this Friday and runs until August 4th, and features several big names from the music scene, including Calema (July 26th), Nuno Ribeiro (July 31st), Ana Moura (August 1st), 4Litro (July 29th), Vitinho Ferrari (August 2nd) and a tribute to Tina Turner (July 30th).
27 stands present in the venue.
This is “the largest and oldest event of its kind in the region” which promotes “the best of local gastronomy” and which has participants from all parishes in the municipality. It will have 27 stands, of which 11 are restaurants and five are bars. In addition, there will be 11 association stands and another two guest entities, one from Montevideo and the other from Coimbra.
Ricardo Franco also highlighted the three live cooking sessions with local products included in the program, which will feature the participation of Biqueira and chef Octávio Freitas.
Free transport is new.
To ensure there are no reasons not to come to Machico and enjoy the entertainment, this year, for the first time, the Council is offering free transport from the various parishes in the municipality on the days when the headliners are performing, namely on 26 July, 31 July and 1 August. “This also helps a lot, considering that there will also be fewer vehicles crowding the city centre”, he pointed out.
Changes make parking easier.
In terms of traffic, and taking into account the high influx of people, the Council, in partnership with the PSP and the Civil Protection Service of Machico, will change the layout of some streets in the centre of the municipality, which will be restricted to operating in one direction, allowing for greater traffic flow. “Operating in one direction allows parking on both sides of the roads and this ends up accommodating more vehicles”, he pointed out.
Regarding the impact of the event on the hotel industry, Ricardo Franco says that the outlook is that during the event “all types of accommodation in the municipality” will be full, believing, although without giving specific figures, that this will be in the order of “tens or even hundreds of thousands of euros”.
Event with sustainability certification
It is worth mentioning that, as in previous years, the event will once again feature an ‘eco cup’ that helps to “exponentially” reduce the waste produced. “It is also a very important measure from the point of view of environmental sustainability that has changed the logic associated with consumerism that we want to reduce the circulation of plastic”, pointed out the mayor, recalling that the event won the sustainability award in 2022 and 2023.
“At the moment, as far as I know, it is the only event of its kind in Madeira that has sustainability certification”, he highlighted, adding that there is a certifying company that monitors the entire process of the event.
Machico Gastronomic Week kicks off on Friday and Ricardo Franco hopes the event will once again be a success.