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Cascavel is a planned city in western Paraná, Brazil, famous for its wide streets, its big urban lake and the Show Rural Coopavel, billed as Latin America's largest agribusiness fair. Its top sights are the Lago Municipal, the free municipal zoo, the brutalist Catedral Metropolitana, the Praça do Migrante and the Autódromo Internacional de Cascavel.
A village grew up from 1928 around a store at the Encruzilhada dos Gomes, a junction of trails used by yerba mate workers, drovers and soldiers, where the marco zero obelisk now stands. Polish, German, Italian, Ukrainian and caboclo settlers followed with the timber boom, and Cascavel split from Foz do Iguaçu on 14 November 1951.
With about 372,000 people, it is the fifth most populous city in Paraná, the hub and university centre of the state's west, and lies 491 km by road from Curitiba. Its signature dish is the costela fogo de chão, beef ribs roasted upright beside an open fire for about twelve hours, and the Cascavel de Ouro race has been run since 1967.
Lago Municipal de Cascavel is the 39-hectare lake of the Parque Ecológico Paulo Gorski in Cascavel, Paraná, opened in 1984 and fed by springs of the Rio Cascavel. A walking track of more than six kilometres, mostly through native forest, circles it, and its spillway gives 70% of the city's water.
Zoológico Municipal de Cascavel, the Parque Municipal Danilo Galafassi, is a free 18-hectare zoo beside the Lago Municipal in Cascavel, Paraná, visited by about 300,000 people a year. Set in native forest, it keeps over 300 animals of 68 species, mostly Brazilian, and a natural history museum.
Igreja do Lago, the wooden church of Nossa Senhora de Fátima beside the Lago Municipal in Cascavel, Paraná, is seen as the city's first church. Built by the community in São João d'Oeste and opened in 1960, it was rebuilt here in 1987, listed as heritage in 2012 and now hosts cultural events.
Parque Vitória, officially the Parque Ambiental Hilário Zardo, is an 18-hectare conservation and leisure park in Cascavel, Paraná, between the Country district and Vila Cancelli. It has a paved 1,000-metre walking trail, two five-a-side football pitches, two outdoor gyms and playgrounds.
Catedral Metropolitana de Cascavel, dedicated to Nossa Senhora Aparecida, is the brutalist cathedral in central Cascavel, Paraná, its form inspired by the mantle and crown of the city's patron saint. Opened in 1976 as the mother church, it became a cathedral in 1978 and a metropolitan see in 1979.
Praça do Migrante is a 9,530 m2 square in Cascavel, Paraná, opened in 1977 where the town's first shops stood, honouring the migrants who built the city. Its Monumento ao Migrante has concrete ramps in a fountain pointing to Brazil's five regions, sized by settlers' origins, and 26 state flags.
Teatro Municipal de Cascavel, named Sefrin Filho, is a five-storey arts centre in central Cascavel, Paraná, opened on 10 April 2015 with Don Quixote danced by the Bolshoi Ballet School of Joinville. With 1,325 seats in four auditoriums and an art gallery, it is the second largest theatre in Paraná.
Praça Getúlio Vargas is a square on Avenida Brasil in central Cascavel, Paraná, opened on 14 December 1966 at the city's marco zero, marked by an obelisk around which the town grew. First called Praça da Matriz, it is the starting point for municipal roads, and a time capsule is buried there.
Autódromo Internacional de Cascavel, named for founder Zilmar Beux, is a 3,058-metre motor racing circuit in Cascavel, Paraná, opened on dirt in 1970 and paved in 1973 as the first asphalt track in Brazil's interior. It hosts the Cascavel de Ouro race and was the birthplace of Fórmula Truck.
Show Rural Coopavel is an annual farm technology fair in Cascavel, Paraná, run by the Coopavel cooperative on its own 720,000 m2 grounds beside the BR-277. Begun as a 1989 field day with 110 visitors, it is billed as Latin America's largest agribusiness fair and drew 285,000 people in 2023.
Estádio Olímpico Regional is the municipal football stadium of Cascavel, Paraná, opened on 10 November 1982, when 45,000 fans saw São Paulo beat the home side 1-0. Home of FC Cascavel, it hosted 2000 South American Under-23 pre-Olympic matches and takes up to 50,000 people for shows.
Costela Fogo de Chão is the signature dish of Cascavel, Paraná, chosen by contest: a large rack of beef ribs skewered upright and roasted for about twelve hours beside a fire on the ground. Brought by settlers from Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, it stars at the Festa do Trabalhador.
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