Taunton, Azores' Lagoa celebrate their sister relationship and historic milestone

TAUNTON – Taunton’s older sister Lagoa is commemorating 500 years as a municipality, and to memorialize the special milestone Mayor Shaunna O’Connell presented Lagoa’s Vice Mayor Frederico Sousa with a special gift: a key to the Silver City.

“Bem-vindo à nossa linda cidade (Welcome to our beautiful city),” said the mayor, who happens to be of Portuguese descent. “Taunton is truly blessed to have a close and special relationship with Lagoa, and we’re grateful to be able to celebrate in person your 500th anniversary with you. We always treasure and nurture our Portuguese heritage in the city of Taunton, and our lifelong friendship and connection with our friends from Lagoa.”

The key was presented Sept. 30 at a special event celebrating the strong, longstanding ties between the two cities, hosted by the Taunton Chapter of the Prince Henry Society at Bristol Community College’s Taunton Center.

“I was not expecting to receive the key to the City,” admitted Sousa. “This is quite an honor for us. We hope to reply with our own key, when you go to the Azores with your family. Whenever you wish, you are welcome.”

Lagoa, a municipality in the southwestern part of São Miguel Island, Azores, made a point of sharing the celebration of the historical anniversary with its U.S. sister cities by hosting the “Photographic Memories of Lagoa” exhibition in each one of them. Since May, the itinerant exhibition, featuring 44 old and contemporary photos highlighting the history of Lagoa’s five Parishes, was on display at different times in Dartmouth, Fall River, New Bedford, Fairhaven, Rehoboth, Bristol and Taunton.

“With this celebration, we honor and perpetuate the history of Lagoa not only through history, but also, and most of all, through our emigrant communities,” Sousa said. “We want to maintain this close relationship and exchange experiences.”

The local anniversary celebration culminated last Friday at BCC Taunton Center with a special viewing of the exhibit, exhibition of two short videos about Lagoa, a presentation on “Lagoa and the increasing visibility of the Azores in the Anglophone world” by Brown University Prof. Onésimo Teotónio de Almeida, a folklore performance by the Portuguese Social Club of Pawtucket, and a reception.

In attendance was a delegation consisting of Lagoa’s Vice-Mayor, City Councilor and Cultural Director Albertina Oliveira and Photographer Eduardo Borges. They were joined by dozens of local elected and public officials, academic professionals and community members.

“Taunton is proud to be home to a large Portuguese population that has contributed to building the very foundation of our community by sharing with us Portuguese heritage, history, culture and values, and most importantly wine,” said Mayor O’Connell provoking a few laughs. “We cherish our Portuguese heritage and our close ties with Portugal and especially with the Azores.”

Taunton and Lagoa signed their Twinning Protocol 14 years ago.

“The fact that ours is called a Twinning Protocol is meaningful,” stressed the mayor. “Sometimes they’re called Sister Protocols. When you think about twins you think about how inseparable they are and that special lifelong connection they share. And that’s how we feel about our sister city Lagoa.”

O’Connell explained the protocol is based on friendship and cooperation and focuses on exchange of culture through art, music and books, and a foreign exchange program for students.

“I think we have that first objective covered,” O’Connell said, while pointing out that she has discussed with Taunton Superintendent of Schools John Cabral and Lagoa’s Vice Mayor the possibility of forming a working group to explore more robust student exchanges, and hopefully starting something next September.

“We don’t know what that will look like, but we are going to explore it,” she said. “Maybe it’s virtual at first, maybe we can take a few kids over. But we are really excited to work on that initiative.”

Taunton resident Mariano Pimentel, who grew up in New Bedford, served as master of ceremonies at the event.

“Lagoa has always held a very special place in my heart because it’s where my family history began,” he said. “Both my parents were born in Santa Cruz, Lagoa, and countless generations of my ancestors farmed the land, were property owners, businessmen, fishermen and even a former mayor of Lagoa.”

One of the celebratory events organized by Lagoa was fully dedicated to those who left in search of opportunities. The municipality invited five Lagoa emigrants or descendants from the United States and Canada, each representing one of the city’s five parishes, to share their family stories.

Pimentel was one of three individuals from the United States invited to participate in the event titled “Reencontro com as Raízes” or “Reconnecting with our Roots.” He was joined by Jorge Morais, a manager at WJFD radio in New Bedford and a native of Rosário Parish, and Sabrina Brum, of Bristol, R.I., representing emigrants from the Água de Pau Parish.

“We traveled to each of the five parishes that make up the city of Lagoa for roundtables and discussions about our families, life as emigrants in new lands and about the joys and struggles these experiences brought,” Pimentel said. “Like the sister cities relationships, one of the things this program did was to further strengthen the personal relationships between Lagoa and her emigrant communities and to forge deep friendships. It was an experience that I will truly be eternally grateful for.”

In his remarks, Lagoa’s vice-mayor thanked Taunton for helping showcase his city’s culture.

“It’s a way we can show all Lagoans not living in the Azores how much we’ve evolved,” Sousa said. “It was very hard to choose only 44 pictures. Each one of them has a very special meaning.”

Several attendees said the photographs stirred up fond memories.

“Several years ago, we went to the Azores and we had the opportunity to travel all around São Miguel,” said BCC President Laura Douglas, while admiring the photos with Dr. Odete Amarelo, who teaches Portuguese at the college. “It’s really wonderful to see some of these photographs where we were touring. It really reminds us of a wonderful trip and how wonderful the Azores islands are. It’s just fantastic and brought back some wonderful memories.”

Prince Henry Society State Council Secretary Elizabeth Soares, one of the main coordinators of the event, said the initiative was a success due to the collaboration with Bristol County Savings Bank, Bristol Wealth Group and BCC.

“It is important to keep the Portuguese traditions within our community with the sister cities, so that we can preserve our heritage,” she said.

Robert Rezendes, Dean of BCC Taunton Learning Center, son of immigrants from Ponta Delgada and Água Retorta, São Miguel, Azores, said he was really happy his facility was chosen to set the stage for the event.

“It’s really important to be involved with the community that we are serving,” he said. “To be the site for a whole event that connects communities not only locally but also internationally, and to be a part of that, I think is really exciting.”

Lurdes C. da Silva may be reached at ldasilva@ojornal.com. To read more stories about the Portuguese-speaking community in English and Portuguese, please visit ojornal.com.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Taunton, Azores' Lagoa celebrate their sister relationship and historic milestone