Highlights Of February In Rio – PART 1

When you think of Rio in February you think of the Carnival which is totally right. The second month of the year is marked by one of the biggest parties in the entire world: the Carnival. The pre-carnival events start on February 12th through the 16th. The closing event will be on the 20th – the Saturday of Champions with the parade on Passarela do Samba of the winning samba schools, a show of unique beauty. Besides that, the awarding of the three best bandstands will bring joy and fun to the city’s districts.

The opening ceremony will be opened by the mayor of Rio de Janeiro who will symbolically hand over the keys of the city of King Momo meaning the Carnival festivities are ready to begin. The first event will be organized by the Junior Samba School Parade at Passarela do Samba Professor Darcy Ribeiro – Sambódromo from 5pm. The second event is the Cinelandia Ball organized at raça Floriano – Cinelândia Downtown. This is the traditional meeting place for Carnival participants and was founded back in 1990 and ever since has been the place for the largest street parties, capable of gathering more than 60,000 people every year.

The Copa Ball is a very sumptuous event hosted at Copacabana Palace Hotel – Av. Atlântica, 1.702 – Copacabana and is exclusively for rich people. The Large Sailboats Rio 2010 – South America Sails 2010 will have the following program:

– Barra da Tijuca (close to Av. Ayrton Senna) – 10:00 am
– Ponta da Joatinga – 12:00 pm
– Leblon (close to Av. Bartolomeu Mitre) – 01:00 pm
– Forte de Copacabana – 01:30 pm
– Pontal do Leme – 02:30 pm
– Escola Naval – 03:00 pm
– Píer Mauá – 03:30 pm

The event is only a small part of the celebrations for the two hundred years of the creation of the First National Government Boards. On February 7, the city of Rio de Janeiro shall be the starting point of an International Boat Race. The Rio Music Conference will be held at Marina da Glória – Av. Infante Dom Henrique s/nº – Aterro do Flamengo and this it will reach the second edition. It brings closer the music industry fans, especially fans of electronic music. There will be talks, business fairs, workshops and many more. The Motorcross Freestyle Brazil Cup gathers the best Brazilian and international motorcyclists in this years’ fourth edition. This is one of the most exciting events that does not take part in the actual Carnival program.

Our last reviewed event from the first part of the two articles is the Taking Of Monte Castelo, La Serra And Montese which is held at the National Monument in order to commemorate the World War II heroes and Brazil’s Unknown Soldier. The venue for the event is Monumento Nacional aos Mortos da Segunda Guerra Mundial – Av. Infante Dom Henrique – Parque Brigadeiro Eduardo Gomes – Aterro do Flamengo.

Stay tuned for the second part of the article in which we will be reviewing some of the most important events of Rio’s 2010 Carnival edition.