OMC Foundation’s Hog Wild celebration invokes Carnival in Rio

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Live Brazilian rhythms in song and dance will invoke the spirit of Carnival in Rio de Janeiro this Friday during the 13th Annual Hog Wild celebration at Civic Field in Port Angeles.

The fundraiser, “Hog Wild Goes Carnival in Rio, Presented by North Olympic Healthcare Network and Kitsap Bank” will begin at 5 p.m. at Civic Field at Third and Race streets. Tickets, which include fees, are $77.89 for individuals and $618.11 for tables of eight. They are available by going to omhf.org or by calling 360-417-7144.

The program organized by Enjoy Productions of Seattle will feature Samba dancing by Deise Costa and her company, Brazilian Swag of Seattle, and music by Seattle-based singer and promoter Adriana Giordano, who will lead the seven-piece EntreMundos Big Band.

“This is going to be a fast-paced event with lots of entertainment,” said Bruce Skinner, executive director of the Olympic Medical Center Foundation, which is hosting the event.

“It will be unique to the fundraising event category.”

Proceeds will go to the Olympic Medical Center’s Children’s Clinic and the OMC Foundation Scholarship fund, which provides funds for people who want to enter the healthcare profession, especially in Peninsula College’s medical-related programs.

The theme is based on another hospital foundation fundraiser, a unique immersion into the biggest party in the word, Carnival in Rio, which Skinner will host in February.

“It’s magic, and that’s it,” Daniel Baldacci, president of International Festivals and Events Association of Latin America, told a Port Angeles audience in April of the explosion of Afro-Brazilian culture, dance, music and costumes that takes over Rio de Janeiro and the rest of the country each year.

Costa and Giordano plan to bring some of that magic to Port Angeles on Friday.

Both have established Brazilian music companies in Seattle with the goal of exposing Americans to the rhythms and rich culture of their native land.

“The idea is to bring carnival vibes to this event,” said Giordano, a promoter through Giordano Productions both of Brazilian music and women musicians, a band leader and singer who has lived in Seattle since 1991 and performed professionally since 2010.

“Brazilians are in love with music,” she said. “They have it in their lives every day. … We cannot live without it.”

Said Costa, the 2022 USA Samba Queen and winner of the Adriana Lima’s Female Malandro Contest in 2023: “I want people to feel embraced by Brazilian culture.”

A dancer, teacher and entrepreneur, Costa will bring five dancers to the performance.

Both Costa with dance and Giordano with music will focus on samba, a high-energy, danceable music which once was outlawed but now has become a huge tourist attraction for Brazil.

Brazilian music is a medley of influences from indigenous peoples, European settlers and Africans who were kidnapped and taken to Brazil to be enslaved. Brazil was forced by the rest of the world to end slavery in the 1820s, according to Costa.

It is through music and dance that people who had to live by rules that were not meant to protect them asserted their identities, and helped them fight for their place in society, Costa said.

“Samba has changed how black people were seen in this society,” Costa said. “It gave safe space and education … It comes from folks who survived slavery. The whole world cheers for it.

“The fight isn’t over but at least there is more space, more recognition and more respect,” she continued.

Samba “carries a powerful history of resistance,” Giordano said.

“That’s what makes Brazilian music so rich, fascinating, joyful and heart-breaking… Samba holds a special place in my heart. There’s a lot of pain behind it, as well as a lot of joy and magic.”

Enjoy Productions, which has put together the program, is composed of Kevin Joyce and Martha Enson. Over three decades the twosome have hosted, directed, designed, created, produced and performed at more than 2,000 live events, including theater spectacles like Teatro Zinzanni and circus art.

Joyce, a musician and auctioneer, created and hosted the TV show Big Night Out for two seasons on the Seattle Channel.

For more information, see omhf.org, call 360-417-7144 or visit the foundation office at 1015 Georgiana St., Port Angeles.