President of Portugal visits Tiburon for dairy mural kickoff

Tiburon officials and residents gathered on the Old Rail Trail Sept. 28 to welcome a group of Portuguese dignitaries, including the country’s president, and celebrate the groundbreaking of a mural planned to honor the town’s Portuguese dairy history.

A crowd of more than 100 people was on hand to greet President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who joined local leaders including Mayor Jon Welner and Southern Marin Supervisor Stephanie Moulton-Peters in unveiling the oil painting that will serve as the guide for the mural, which will be located in an alcove of the trail across from McKegney Knoll.

Rebelo de Sousa was accompanied by Francisco Duarte Lopes, Portugal’s ambassador to the U.S.; Paulo Cafôfo, secretary of state for the Portuguese communities; and Pedro Pinto, the consul general of Portugal in San Francisco.

“Tiburon has been really focusing over the last couple of years on diversity and the diversity of our heritage,” Welner said. “We’ve been focusing mostly on the present and future, but this is a reminder that we have diversity in our past as well and it is something for us to celebrate, and this will remind us in a beautiful way, every day as we walk by, where our town comes from.”

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