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Cordão do Boitatá, Empolga às 9 and Simpatia É Quase Amor bring together around 70 thousand revelers this Sunday
Published on 02/03/2025 - 15:37 | Updated on 02/03/2025 - 15:38
Boitatá Cord - Gustavo Stephan/Riotur The blue sky this Carnival Sunday (02/03) was the perfect setting for street festivities, with parades taking place in all parts of the city. Cordão do Boitatá, in the city center; Charanga Talismã, in Vila Kosmos; Empolga às 9, in Leme; and Simpatia é Quase Amor, in Ipanema, were some of the highlights that attracted, together, around 70 thousand revelers to the streets. In total, 52 parades are planned until the end of the day.
In yet another edition of its famous ball, Cordão do Boitatá returned to Praça XV on the morning of this Carnival Sunday (02/03), with its banners in homage to Brazilian culture and the giant snake as its mascot. On stage, the orchestra of multi-instrumentalists and performers such as Mariana Baltar, Mascos Sacramento, Marquinhos de Oswaldo Cruz, Marina Iris and Moyses Marques led the rich repertoire of marchinhas, frevos, maxixes, choros, carimbós and lots of samba. This edition of the event, the 19th since the founding of the group in 1996, paid tribute to Gonzaguinha and Geraldo Azevedo, as well as tributes to Paulo Moura, Banda Black Rio, Luiz Carlos da Vila and Milton Nascimento.
– Boitatá is a family that thinks about Carnival in a democratic way. So, for me, this movement is much more than just singing, it is a political and social demonstration. I am very proud to be part of this family – said Mariana Baltar.
Performing on the stage set up in Praça XV for seven years, singer Marina Iris recalled her days as a party-goer.
– While it is an honor to be at Boitatá as a singer, because it is a very resilient group in terms of preserving our culture, as a party-goer it is an encounter with my own history. I have always come, and for the most part, I have lived as a party-goer, having fun among the crowd. It has always been an important moment in my life – said Iris.
In Vila Kosmos, also in the morning, Meriti Avenue was taken over by the colorful procession of Charanga Talismã, which has made the neighborhood in the North Zone its home for Rio's Street Carnival since last year. The performing cast of stilt walkers, fire eaters and circus artists turns the street party into a true theatrical spectacle. The members arrive early, before 7 am, energizing local businesses and transforming the scene of typical suburban houses, with residents standing at their windows to watch the band pass by.
– This has always been a quiet neighborhood, we don’t even have a carnival block. I think these kids, all colorful and happy, parading here are beautiful. It brings more life to the neighborhood, makes us more excited – celebrated Eliane dos Santos, who has lived in Vila Kosmos for 30 years with her husband, Sérgio.
Sunday also saw processions of Empolga às 9, in Leme, and Simpatia é Quase Amor, in Ipanema, among others.
Operational Plan for Street Carnival 2025
Expected to attract around six million people over 37 days of festivities, Carnaval de Rua 2025 will have, until March 9, more than 470 performances spread across different regions of Rio.
To ensure that the public enjoys the party safely and comfortably, the City Hall, through Riotur, has prepared a large operational scheme involving CET-Rio, the Municipal Health Department (SMS), Comlurb, the Public Order Department (Seop) and the Rio Municipal Guard (GM-Rio), among other bodies, which will operate at the event locations and in the surrounding areas.
The complete schedule of the processions, with date, time and route, is available on the Blocos do Rio 2025 app, on all digital platforms. The tool is free and works by geolocation. The list is also available on the website https://www.carnavalderua.rio/, which brings together, in addition to the parade calendar, news about the blocks and more information about Rio Street Carnival 2025.
More street block photos will be updated throughout the day on https://www.flickr.com/photos/riotur/.
