Madeira Festival hits the spot

Thousands of fun loving Gauteng-ers celebrated three sun-kissed days of fabulous Portuguese and Madeiran food, wine, dancing, and an unrivalled lineup of live performances by the likes of Dr Victor, Kurt Darren, Lee Cole, Sergio Rossi, and then danced the night away with beat-filled DJ sets by DJ Dino Bravo, Shawny B and Luis Almeida and others.

The delicious food stalls, manned by some of the top Portuguese chefs in the province, provided mountains of succulent prawns tossed in butter and garlic, hundreds of juicy grilled espetadas, and so much spicy chouriço that it could have formed a ring around the festival itself! For instance, one of our major stalls, Churrasco, sold a staggering 3,000 prawns, 400 chickens and half a tonne of meat. This yummy cuisine was washed down with gallons of ice cold Vinho Verde, Cerveza, and bottled water

From an organisational point of view, it ticked all the boxes: ample parking, tight but low-key security (there were no major incidents at the festival), first class medical facilities, clean ablutions, and post event clean-up.

Manny Ferreirinha, national chairman of the Portuguese Forum of South Africa, who hosted this special event enthused: “We are overwhelmed by the fantastic response from the public to the Madeira Festival. We achieved our set goal to provide a world classic event in a safe and secure environment and to help celebrate the contribution of the Madeiran Portuguese community to South Africa. 2023 will see the return of the spectacular Caravela Festival which will be even bigger and better than anything we have staged to date.”