The 10th annual Brazilian Day San Diego, Fair and Parade is free to the public, and is the largest Brazilian festival on the west coast, attracting nearly 50,000 annually. It will take place at Belmont Park in Mission Beach, just steps away from the boardwalk. It is marked for Sunday, Sept. 10, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., in the Belmont Park parking lot just south of the roller coaster. This community festival brings the spirit of Brazil to the heart of San Diego, right next to the sand and surf. More than 150 vendors display activities, food, and entertainment the whole family can enjoy, including a kids’ zone with face painting and inflatables, and a beer garden for the adults. The main stage, will present non-stop entertainment throughout the day including Brazilian music, and rhythmic dance ensembles. The highlight of the fair is the parade, commencing at 3 p.m. It’s inspired by the quintessential carnival parades that take place each year throughout the diverse regions of Brazil. The parade path will move around the perimeter of the festival with vibrant floats, extravagant costumes, and contagious rhythms. To commemorate ten years of Brazilian Day San Diego and what it represents, the theme for the parade is “Peace, Love, Community, and Diversity.” Saturday, Sept. 9, the day prior to the festival, Brazilian Day will bring you the official pre-party and beauty pageant 8 to 11 p.m. at Johnny V, 945 Garnet Ave. This tropical party will be a night full of entertainment, featuring performing groups and a beauty pageant where contestants will compete for the title of Musa do Brazilian Day 2017 (Miss Brazilian Day), as they showcase evening gowns, swimsuits, and samba. For those looking to participate in learning more about Brazilian performing arts, they may attend the Tem Que Ter Axe Event Saturday at UC San Diego, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Workshops taught by experts from across the country and abroad, include the art of capoeira, and various Brazilians genres of percussion and dance, such as samba, frevo, and Afro-Brazilian. Brazilian Day San Diego is produced by Brazilian Institute for Arts and Culture, a local nonprofit organization. Its mission is to facilitate the education of Brazilian arts and culture for community enrichment, by providing educational programs and community festivals for all ages, promoting Brazilian dance, music, literature, folklore, traditions, capoeira, and the Portuguese language.
