Carlos Vieira’s Portuguese heritage is important to him. Almost as important as helping others.
This weekend, the local philanthropist will have the opportunity to celebrate his Portuguese roots and help those who have autism.
The Carlos Vieira Foundation will host the fourth annual San Joaquin Valley Portuguese Festival on Saturday and Sunday at the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds.
Admission and parking are free.
The event, sponsored by the Portuguese Fraternal Society of America, will run from 9 a.m. to midnight on Saturday and from 2 to 8 p.m. on Sunday.
Vieira, who was born in Brazil to Portuguese-immigrant parents, came to the United States when he was just a boy. He would eventually become a farmer, a race car driver and an entrepreneur, as the founder of the 51Fifty energy drink and apparel brand.
But it wasn’t until a co-worker was faced with hardship that Vieira became involved with raising funds to help fight autism.
“A woman named Billie McCauley was my bookkeeper and she was a single mom,” said Vieira. “She worked for us for many years. She had a little boy and at the age of about 2 or 3 years, he started behaving strangely and was soon diagnosed with autism. At that time, there was no support for autism in Merced County. So, we did a fundraiser for the family. We now have our own grant program, but back then we used to raise money and donate it to various agencies.”
Now, through his Race for Autism program, the Carlos Vieira Foundation offers direct help to provide up to $500 of services, medical necessities and educational tools to families affected by autism in 21 Central California counties. And funds from this weekend’s festival will go toward the helping those with autism.
That’s the main reason Carlos Vieira wants people to head out to the fairgrounds on Saturday and Sunday. But he also wants to share the Portuguese culture.
“My dad was from the isle of Pico in the Azores and my mom was from a little town called Chaves on the mainland and they met in Brazil,” said Vieira. “My dad saw coming to the U.S. as an opportunity to make a better life for his family. He worked his butt off and every chance he got, he’d take us to the Azores so we could experience, firsthand, the culture there. And that’s what I’m trying to bring to the Central Valley with this festival.”
Vieira, along with his brother Ricardo and sister Marcia, were very involved in Portuguese festivals and parades growing up, having played instruments in the band. Marcia was even a festival queen.
“I love the culture,” said Vieira, who now resides in Atwater. “I wanted to put together a weekend to celebrate the culture, not only for the Portuguese people, but for also for non-Portuguese people. There are so many Portuguese people in this region. It’s an important community to know about. And this is the weekend we can bring it all together.”
The first day of the event will feature the bulk of the attractions.
A parade and opening ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, followed by an Azores-style bullfight by rope at 11. Also on tap are a philharmonic band, folklore dancing, wine and cheese tasting, and performances by Jorge Ferreira, Alex Ferrari, the Portuguese Kids, Luis Silva, and DJs Brown Sugar and Marcos Shalom.
Sunday’s highlight will be the bloodless bullfight, slated to get under way at 4 p.m.
After the bullfight will be a raffle — tickets can be purchased for $20. First prize is a car worth up to $30,000, providing that at least 2,500 tickets are sold. If not, it reverts to being a 50-50 raffle prize. Second prize is two round-trip tickets to the Azores (departing from either Oakland or Boston).
Admission and parking is free both days, though admission to the bloodless bullfight is $15.
