Looking for a bowl of prize-winning Portuguese bean soup and slice of milk bread fresh from the stone oven?
Look no farther, as it is a tradition for the Hawaii Island Portuguese Chamber of Commerce to celebrate the beginning of the Lenten season, practiced by many of Hawaii’s Portuguese Catholics, serving everyone present soup and bread as its gift to the community.
This happens each year during the Dennis G. Aguiar Portuguese Day in the Park. This year’s installment is slated for 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sunday (March 3) at Gilbert Carvalho Park on Waianuenue Avenue in Hilo. The event includes oral histories in the gym at 10 a.m., the Hawaii County Band at 11 a.m. and complimentary soup and bread at noon.
Started by the chamber’s first president, Councilman Jimmy Souza, in 1995, this event promises to once again bring Hawaii’s Portuguese culture to the Big Island community. Dennis Aguiar began to work the crowd in following years, asking what they wanted for this special day.
In response, Portuguese music and music by Portuguese composers were added. Also added were gifts from Portugal for sale; dancing of the Chamarita; playing the Portuguese card game, Bishca; sharing of Portuguese ancestry through the ship logs that brought the original Portuguese to Hawaii and the infamous Portuguese Bean Soup Contest.
Aguiar died in 2004, but before his passing the HIPCC named the day in his honor.
Portuguese food favorites for sale will be Portuguese hot dogs, Papa’s sweetbread, pickled onions and malasadas. At noon, attendees can get freshly-made, prize-winning Portuguese bean soup made by Linus Tavares and homemade bread fresh from the stone oven, or “forno,” made by Evelyn Pacheco.
Non-food items for sale will include 140th anniversary T-shirts and bags, Portuguese Day in the Park T-shirts, the CD “Portuguese in Hawaii” and other Saudades Cultural and Educational Center items.
This year’s “Everything Portuguese” in the gym will feature 140th anniversary exhibits from Hilo, Hamakua and Ka‘u, compliments of the Hawaii County Band and Andrade families, the Portuguese Heritage Club of Hamakua and the Ka‘u Multicultural Society, respectively.
Videos of the oral histories produced by Jackie Johnson and members of the Tavares, Serrao and Medieros families will be shared at 10 a.m.
For those interested in Portuguese genealogy, the Portuguese language or a friendly card game of Portuguese bishca, stop by these tables to learn about and enjoy other parts of the Portuguese culture.
All proceeds from the event will go toward building Saudades, the Portuguese Cultural and Educational Center. Construction of phase one is set to begin early next year.
Donations for the center can be given at the park or mailed to P.O. Box 1120, Hilo, HI 96721. The center is a nonprofit, and all donations are fully tax deductible.
Portuguese Day in the Park is free and open to the public to share and experience the Portuguese culture.
