Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together! Don't take São João to the streets, celebrate at home!

With no official São João celebrations, everyone can still have their own celebration; this is what the Municipality of Porto enhanced in a Mupi campaign to raise awareness on the need to comply with social distancing measures and not giving in to tackling the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. 

The usual parades, crowds and parties have to be scheduled for next year's celebration. Still, there are new and creative ways to celebrate São João, the patron Saint of Porto. All posters give hints on how to party this unusual year, when people must continue to observe social distancing measures and avoid large crowds.

All the sayings on the posters all around town read the following messages: "For this feast, a small treat", "Small celebration, great feeling", "Partying at home", or "The life of the party is at home" or "The less, the merrier". So let's do our bit to make this a FUNtastic different São João!

This Mupi campaign is inspired by the icons of the Porto. brand, created in 2014 by the Municipality of Porto and designer Eduardo Aires.

Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira gathered with the Counsellors of the Municipal Security and Economic Councils to debate the best way to address the festivities of São João this year. The unanimous conclusion was that there can be no concessions regarding the preventive measures taken to tackle the ongoing pandemic, and thus putting at risk all the effort everyone has made thus far.

Mayors of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia, Rui Moreira and Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, gathered with the heads of the PSP, Municipal Police, CP, Metro and STCP, to consolidate procedures regarding the evening of São João, and to recommend as well the postponing of the football match between FC Porto and Boavista, scheduled to happen that very evening.

Convenience stores and transport services will close earlier than usual, also, and the Bridge Luís I will be interdicted, both for pedestrians and for car traffic.

These are some of the measures taken regarding the evening of the 23rd June.

Already on 4th April both municipalities of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia had announced the cancellation of all official celebrations of this festivity, namely concerts and the traditional fireworks over the river Douro.