Three Fairs and Festivals to Check Out in Rio this Weekend

By Chesney Hearst, Senior Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – With everything from gourmet foods to the celebration of the maker culture and local fashion and products to highlighting conscious consumption and the value of recycling and reusing, three festivals and fairs will offer something for everyone in Rio de Janeiro this weekend.

Chef Mix Gourmet – From Thursday, July 7th through Sunday, July 10th the Chef Mix Gourmet will fill the exterior of the Shopping (Mall) Metropolitano Barra in Barra da Tijuca with food trucks and bikes as well as live entertainment.

Produced by chef Patrícia Metre and Eziel Prete, this edition of the festival will feature more than fifteen participants that will celebrate the cooler climate and delicacies from Northeastern Brazil.

Ranging from vendors of Brazilian and German cuisine to specialty beers to gourmet hamburgers and sandwiches to tapioca to Venezuelan arepas, food trucks will include Belgo, Brasileiríssimo, Brewbusz, Crepe Truck Rio, Forster Hauss, Hell’s Burguer, Mate do Vovô, Nasaj, Plano B, Tapiroad, Upgrade, and Vulcano.

With items ranging from beans to cake to churros to various sweets to artesianal Italian palhas to frozen treats, food bike vendors will include Bike Beans, Gata Gourmet, Los Churritos, Marias Fouet, Palheteria Carioca, and Vibe Frozen.

Additionally during the festival, live entertainment will be provided by the Trio Pé de Serra on Friday, July 8th at 7:30PM, by Sotaque do Nordeste on Saturday, July 9th at 7:30PM and by Marcelo Mimoso on Sunday, July 10th at 7:30PM.

What: Chef Mix Gourmet
When: July 7th – 10th. Operating hours will be 4PM to 10PM on Thursday, July 7th and 12PM to 10PM on July 8th, 9th and 10th.
Where: Shopping Metropolitano Barra, Avenida Embaixador Abelardo Bueno, 1,300 – Barra da Tijuca
Piso L 1 – Estacionamento Oeste – Área externa (External area, Piso L 1, west parking)
Entrance: FREE

O Cluster – The popular fashion, food and arts fair, O Cluster will return on Sunday, July 10th to Casa da Glória for its 16th edition.

With the theme, “Re-Makers: repair, recycle, reuse” (“Re-Makers: repair, recycle, reuse”), this edition of the fair will take place in partnership with Olabi Makerspace, a Rio de Janeiro-based group for technology, innovation, and creativity with a space for projects ranging from carpentery to robotics.

“We go through life believing that we can not change the world because we are too ‘small.’ The maker movement causes ordinary people to start to believe that they are able to create, to perform, and to positively impact our society in the face of difficulties we live today because the world has changed and continues to change,” said Carol Herszenhut, creator of O Cluster in a released statement.

“This movement is made up of people who believe that you can build everything you can imagine. They are the nonconformists, the dreamers, creative, conscious and the ones who puts ‘hands on.’ We want this event to inspire future makers with new ideas and projects working towards the democratization of innovation.”

At 7PM there will be a special screening of the film “Quem são os Makers da Favela,” a documentary made as part of the Residência em Mídia e Tecnologia: Favelado 2.0 – Construindo Gambiarras para o Futuro (Residence in Media and Technology: favelado 2.0 – Building Gambiarras for the future) that deals with makers, creativity, and innovation in the Gambiarras favela.

Participating brands during this edition of O Cluster will include Another Hot Brand, Coquine Intimates, Par, Quaint, Mole Bags, EstudioRipa, Evapore, Magari, Amulet, MashUp, DesvioClin, JohnBags, Cajuína, Sea of Joy, Arom, Nylow, Santa Expedita, Maré Relógio, Bossa Social, Alice Aroeira, Lepreri, Marcela Cavalcanti, Nephew, Alana Ruas, Gaia, Anouk Bags, and Óleos do Brasil, among others.

The gastronomy section of the fair will include food vendors and chefs Batida do Coração, Veg House, Espirito de Porco, Hagar o sanduiche, Bolo do Amor, Cris Cunha, and B BURGUER, among others.

Additionally, during the fair music will be provided by special guest DJs Patricktor4 and Nepal and resident DJs Andrei Yurevitch, Nado Leal, and Ícaro dos Santos.

What: O Cluster, 16th Edition
When: Sunday, July 10th, 1PM – 9PM
Where: Casa da Glória, Ladeira da Glória, 98, Glória
Entrance: FREE

EKOBÉ – Feira Aberta de Sustentabilidade – Spotlighting local production and consumption, the first edition of the EKOBÉ – Feira Aberta de Sustentabilidade will take place on Sunday, July 10th at Praça Mauá from 10AM to 10PM.

Organized by Capim SeloVerde and ZEBU, mídias sustentáveis (sustainable media), in partnership with a network of various collaborators, the fair will feature food, product, and service vendors as well as art exhibitions, discussions and workshops held throughout the day.

Products vendors will incude IBEJI Limpeza Consciente, Vivo Naturalmente, ZEREZES, Tucum, Terravixta, TOA, Odyssee, Ecool, Mescla, Kombotânica, Pi , Caíques, Schöpf Papier, and Cultivo Circular and service vendors will include ZEBU, mídias sustentáveis, MateriaBrasill, Maloca Querida, Action Shop Serviços Ambientais, Papel Semente, VagaViva, Epicentral, Menos 1 Lixo, O Quintal Orgânico, and Ciclo Orgânico.

For the gastronomy section of the fair, participants will include Vegtal, Barnabike, RÉBIT, Terrapia, Tribo culinária, and Disco Xepa. Additionally, social projects, Mão Santa and Horta Inteligente will be present during the day.

Workshops will include “Horta para crianças – Horta Inteligente” (Gardening for children – Intelligent garden) from 10AM to 11:30 AM; “Minhocário + horta vertical – Ciclo Orgânico, Cultivo Circular e Kombotânica” (Earthworm + vertical garden – Organic Cycle, Growing Circular and Kombotânica) also taking place from 10AM to 11:30AM; “História com tapete + tinta natural” (crianças) – Sustentarte (History with carpet + natural ink (for children) – Sustentarte), taking place from 12PM to 1:30 PM; “Papel reciclado + cadernos artesanais – Schöpf Papier e Os Caderninhos” (Recycled paper + handmade notebooks) also being held from 12PM to 1:30PM; and “Limpeza Consciente – IBEJI Limpeza Consciente e Vivo Naturalmente” (Conscious Cleaning – Cleaning IBEJI Conscious and Natural Living), which will be held from 1:30PM to 3PM.

Discussions will include Ciclo de vida (Life cylce) at 3PM; “Gestão dos resíduos” (Waste management) at 4PM; “Consumo consciente” (Conscious consumption) at 5PM; and “Redes” (Networks) at 6PM.

Entertainment programming will include performances by Bellas and Flor at 7PM; by Maracutaia at 8PM and by Pedro Mann with QINHO and Lila at 9PM.

The art exhibition, curated by Paula Darriba, will be themed “Ação Individual, Impacto Coletivo” (Individual Action, Collective Impact) and will feature works with reused, recycled waste materials, reshaped to help question the relationship between art and the environment.

What: EKOBÉ – Feira Aberta de Sustentabilidade
When: Sunday, July 10th, 10AM – 10PM
Where: Praça Mauá
Entrance: FREE

The above fairs and festivals will take place in Rio de Janeiro this weekend in addition to the ongoing 3rd edition of CADEG’s Festival de Inverno and the the second edition of the Lagoa Bier Fest.