Porto City Hall assesses the establishment of a space of sufficient dimension to accommodate larger fair and markets in the city

Porto City Hall is assessing the need to ensure the best conditions possible to hold the largest fairs and markets in the city, amid the ongoing pandemic, by complying with all the safety measures in place, issued by the DGS. One of the ways to doing that is to establish a devoted place to hold these activities.

“The city must think of a space of sufficient size, which I would call it a “feiródromo” [a place where fairs would be held] and that space would have to have the sufficient dimension to be able to accommodate this situation of living amid a pandemic for longer than we might think”, explained the councillor for Economy, Tourism and Trade, Ricardo Valente, during the extraordinary session of the Municipal Assembly, held on 19 July evening.

This would be the solution to enable the reopening of the fairs of Vandoma and Cerco, which are still closed based on grounds of “sanitary reasons”. “In Porto, distances are strictly respected. Stalls have to be separated. It is impossible to ensure that in Vandoma. It is a matter of public health, of the pandemic that makes it impossible for a market that size to open”, noted Ricardo Valente, replying to a question by the member of the Municipal Assembly, Susana Constante Pereira, of the Bloco de Esquerda.

Porto City Hall authorized the reopening of urban municipal fairs and markets on 7 April, namely the Feiras Municipais de Antiguidades e Velharias, Passarinhos, Numismática, Filatelia e Colecionismo, Pasteleira, Artesanato da Batalha and the Mercado de Artesanato do Porto, the Mercadinho da Ribeira, the Mercado da Ribeira, the Mercado de Levante do Covelo and the Feira de Produtos Biológicos of the City park.

Adding to these municipal fairs, also the fairs promoted by private entities, such as the Flea Market, Urban Market, Market Place, Mercado da Alegria, Mercado de S. Bartolomeu, Mercado de S. Miguel, Mercado da Terra, Mercado do Molhe, Sensations Market, Pink Market, Mercado das Marcas, Mercado da Serafina, Mercado Porto Belo, Mercadinho dos Clérigos and Família Desce à Rua had the green light to be held.