Portuguese Festival Coming to Mineola in June

Mineola is always proud of the amount of Portuguese heritage that it has within its village boundaries as well as the contributions made by residents of that background, adding a and to that of the larger community.

On June 9, coinciding with Portugal Day (actually June 10), Manuel Carvalho, owner of  will be holding an an outdoor Portuguese Cultural Festival for residents from noon to 10 p.m.

The festival will be held in the Churrasqueira Barriada parking lot as well as the adjoining lot with the permission of the owners of that building. A variety of musical acts including Portuguese bands and singer Quin Barreiros will be performing. A majority of the food will be cooked in the restaurant, with a few items cooked outside. A portion of the proceeds raised by the festival will be donated to the , , and the .

Wanting to ensure the safety of the persons coming into the event, Carvalho requested the use of Banbury Road between Willis Avenue and Mineola Boulevard, closing the block down during the festival hours.

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“The reason for closing the street would make it so that people don’t come down during the event,” said Gary Mazur, speaking on Carvalho’s behalf during the April 18 meeting of the at the , “because there are going to be people walking in, there’ll be one entranceway into his parking lot into the back to get in and people may be in the street and you don’t want any inconveniences as far as traffic coming down there. It’s definitely safety’s sake.”

Village trustee Paul Cusato stated at the meeting he was most concerned about persons “spilling out” onto the adjoining roads and residential properties, before joining fellow trustees in unanimously approving the request.

According to Mazur, employees would be assigned “to make sure that there aren’t people wondering onto people’s lawns, leaving any refuse,” from the start of the event through after the event is over to clean up anything which may be on the street.

The music will stop at 10 p.m. in order for cleanup crews to clear any refuse, trash, etc. and restore the parking lot by 11 p.m.

Willis Avenue would be closed off so that no one could enter but they could come from Mineola Boulevard and enter to their homes. A person would be stationed at Mineola Boulevard at Carvalho’s expense to ensure drivers who are not residents do not enter the street.

A valet company will also show different parking locations and Carvalho has secured 212 Jericho Turnpike on the corner of Jericho and Mineola Boulevard which has 42 spaces available for parking so that valets are not running across Jericho Turnpike.

There are a total of 17 residents on Banbury Road, with Carvalho obtaining signatures of support from 14 of them about the event.

The parking lot to the rear of would be the “stopping point” according to Mazur. “It would prevent no one from using that parking lot, Carlino’s restaurant or any other business that uses that parking lot,” he noted.