Portuguese president tours Marin, helps launch Tiburon mural

Portuguese dignitaries, including the country’s president, arrived in Marin on Wednesday to attend a groundbreaking for a Tiburon mural project commemorating the historic contribution of Portuguese dairy farmers in southern Marin.

The event drew more than 150 attendees to a retaining wall along the Old Rail Trail near Del Mar School –– the former Little Reed Dairy ––  to unveil the oil painting that will guide the mural’s design and to hear remarks from President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

“We’re not paying a tribute to the past, we’re paying it to the future,” the Portuguese leader said to the rousing cheers from the crowd. “This is not just to remember what we were, what we did. That only matters if we are building a better future. This is history of the future, not history of the past.”

The stylized mural is designed by an Azorean-Californian artist and will be replicated on authentic Portuguese tiles called “azulejos.”

“Selfies! Afterward,” said Rebelo de Sousa as he approached the awaiting and eager crowd just minutes before he gestured to a crowd of students perched above on the hill.

He made good on the promise.

He held aloft a note from Amelie Dunn, a 13-year-old eighth-grader at Del Mar, whose grandfather, James Dunn, was awarded the rank of Grand Officer of the Ordem do Infante Dom Henrique (Order of Prince Henry) by the president of Portugal in 2002. He received the award for his advocacy and humanitarian services to the people of East Timor.

The president laughed aloud and locked the student in a hug.

“I was a bit nervous,” said Dunn. “But it was really, really cool.”

Constantly surrounded by a delegation two- to three-dozen strong –– including the ambassador of Portugal to the United States, Francisco Duarte Lopes; the secretary of state for the Portuguese communities, Paulo Cafôfo; and the consul general of Portugal in San Francisco, Pedro Pinto, and uniformed secret service agents –– he grasped hands, kissed cheeks and posted for enumerable photos. The congeniality with the crowd earned him some instant renown.

“This is a great honor for Tiburon to have such a visit,” said Tiburon Mayor Jon Welner. “This is a reminder that we have diversity in our past as well.”

The event capped a tour of California for the Portuguese president, who visited the Merced County town of Gustine, met tech luminaries in San Jose and threw out the opening pitch at the San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies game in recent days.

After the visit to Tiburon, he took questions at a plaque dedicated to Sausalito’s sister city of Cascais, a town on the Portuguese Riviera, and dined at a private event at the Sausalito Yacht Club.

Local dignitaries came out in numbers themselves to the Tiburon event. They included city council members Holli Thier and Noah Griffin, Vice Mayor Jack Ryan, Tiburon Heritage and Arts Commission chair Nora Noguez and Police Chief Ryan Monaghan. County officials included Sheriff Jamie Scardina, Supervisor Stephanie Moulton-Peters and Supervisor Dennis Rodoni.

Moulton-Peters said the mural represented a sense of social multiculturalism that accepted all community members regardless of race, gender, age, ability or sexual orientation.

“One thing I hope to do during my tenure on the Board of Supervisors is to tell a story about Marin County that honors the diversity of our past, present, and future. The Portuguese dairy families are part of this story,” she said. “This mural will represent one of these threads of the incredibly rich history of Marin and its Portuguese roots.”

The retaining wall is adjacent to the Tiburon bike path and near Del Mar School, which used to be the Portuguese-operated Little Reed Dairy. Dairies in the late 1800s and early 1900s were operated by Portuguese-Azorean immigrant families and were a key facet of the overall economy in Marin. Many of them, like Little Reed Dairy, were later converted to schools.

Azulejos, derived from the Arab word for “polished stone,” is glazed ceramic tilework characterized by ornamental lines and Arab influences. The mural will be composed of the Azulejos tiles sourced from Portugal.

Mike Moyle, historian for the Sausalito-Portuguese Cultural Center, said over 400 dairies have existed in the country. And about 40 in southern Marin were founded by Portuguese immigrants.

“It’s a great acknowledgement of our history that really has been lost,” he said. “As a historian and as someone who loves the area, I really appreciate what it’s going to add.”

The cost estimate for the project is between $10,000 to $15,000, which includes the artwork, the manufacture and shipping of the Azulejos tiles, site preparation and installation, and possible landscaping of the area around the wall. The event kicks off the construction of the mural, which is tentatively set to be complete by November.

Contributors for the project include the Tiburon Peninsula Foundation, the Heritage and Arts Commission, the town of Tiburon, Marin County and nonprofit community partners, the Foundation for Luso American Development, the Regional Government of the Azores, A&C Ventures, Vasco Morais and Holly Kaiser.

João De Brito, an Azorean-Californian painter born in Portugal and known for his oil-painted landscapes, hoped his image would inspire the artists, historians and futurists of the county.

“I want to allow the work to continue to dialogue with different people. Different people will find different things out of it and that to me is a successful piece of work,” he said.

There was also a nod to diplomatic cooperation from the delegation and from those in Marin that coordinated the visit.

Vasco Morais, the lead organizer of the mural, said the mural represented an embrace of the county’s oft-forgotten Portuguese heritage.

“How this has evolved over the last two years, from a shrug to this, is an important part of history. We need to celebrate it. We need to elevate it,” he said.

Ambassador to Portugal Francisco Lopez noted the mural signaled “where our bilateral relations with the U.S. are deepening every day.”

“The relationship, which is already very strong, will be deepened, certainly,” he said.

Rebelo De Sousa said his message on Wednesday was simply one of “tolerance.”

“Viva United States of America. Viva Portugal,” he said.