For the first time after the emergence of the covid-19 pandemic in Brazil, the Festival Nacional Mel, Chorinho e Cachaça will have its first in-person edition on the 16th, 17th and 18th of this month, during the Corpus Christi holiday, in the city of Viçosa. of Ceará, in the Serra da Ibiapaba. All programming is free, including musical attractions, seminars, gastronomic and tourist marketing workshops.
The public will be able to watch 17 instrumental attractions by groups from Ceará and other regions on three stages distributed throughout the city.
“We have everything from tango to choro”, said the project’s director, Fernando Elpídio. The national attraction scheduled to close the festival on the 18th, on the Igreja do Céu stage, is the singer, songwriter and samba player Jorge Aragão.
The project highlights the honey and cachaça production chains and is supported by the Viçosa do Ceará city hall, the state government, the Banco do Nordeste, the State Department of Tourism, the Social Service of Industry (Sesi), the Support Service for Micro and Small Businesses (Sebrae/CE) and the Legislative Assembly of Ceará.
Cachaça capital
Elpídio informed that Viçosa do Ceará works as the cachaça capital of the state. He stated that, in March of this year, the Aviador Prata cachaça, made at Sítio Uruoca, in the interior of the municipality, was elected the best in the world, winning a gold medal in the international competition. London Competitions.
Today, the city and its districts have more than 30 artisanal cachaça producers. “There was already a musculature of cachaça production with more than 100 years. And the production of honey is a project that already existed by Sebrae. Viçosa do Ceará is one of the biggest honey producers in Brazil”, he opined.
For Elpídio, the festival unites these two forces of agribusiness, which are honey and artisanal cachaça, from alembic, with musical programming, “because it is a mountain town, whose temperature is 18°C.” “So, the chorinho, as it is instrumental, matched better”.
Viçosa do Ceará is one of the most sought after cities by tourists in Ceará. The estimated public is 10 thousand people per night, including tourists, visitors and residents of neighboring cities. The project director revealed that, since the first year of the festival, hotel occupancy has reached 100% and boosts the local economy. As of 2019, when the organizers intensified the promotional issue on social networks, they also reached the public in Piauí.
During the period of the event, fairs of products and services of honey, cachaça, tourism and handicrafts from Serra da Ibiapaba will be held, with 25 exhibitors. The idea is to unite gastronomy, tourism, culture and business in a single festival.
Start
The first festival was held in April 2007. From 2008 to 2010, the project strengthened its image, becoming known in several regions of Brazil, mainly due to the selection process to compose the musical program through registration of groups and instrumentals.
The free event distributes musical, gastronomic and business programs in the Matriz and Felipe Camarão squares, in addition to the Igreja do Céu Tourist Complex. The event is found on social media (@melchorinhoecachaca). Among the local attractions, the singer Waldonys, Carlinhos Patriolino, Choro das Três and Orquestra de Croatá, among others, stand out.
