The event, due to be staged on the same day tickets to the Paralympics go on sale, will feature a range of sporting activities, involving some top Brazilian and international stars, as well as cultural and educational attractions.

Lagoa, which will host the rowing and canoe events during the Olympic and Paralympic Games, is a popular leisure attraction among Rio de Janeiro's residents and visitors, with the lighting of the giant Christmas tree that sits in the middle of the lake drawing thousands of spectators every year.

The Paralympic festival will be similarly family-themed, with the chance to watch and take part in sports and interact with Rio 2016 mascot Tom.

The open-air event is due to take place on a public holiday in Brazil at Parque dos Patins, a park alongside Lagoa in the heart of the city.

It will showcase Paralympic sports such as wheelchair basketball, five-a-side football for the visually impaired and sitting volleyball with top athletes, celebrities and the public all invited to take part. 

There will also be workshops for children, a photography exhibition celebrating Paralympic athletes and an installation displaying technological innovations that have helped improve the quality of life for people with a disability.

Rio 2016 executive director of communications Mario Andrada, who presented the plans at the Organising Committee's headquarters today, claimed the objective of the festival is to "understand the rhythm and abilities of Paralympic athletes".

It has also been announced that trains in Rio de Janeiro will be decorated with Paralympic Games imagery and extracts from the work of Brazilian poet in a bid to build public awareness of next year’s Games.

The initiative is linked to the Rio 2016 culture programme, which produces artistic interventions throughout the city with free, open-air activities in various disciplines - music, visual arts, literature, theatre, dance and pop art.

On September 7 of last year, stars of the Brazilian men's sitting volleyball and goalball teams took part in a series of games at Flamengo Park, which is scheduled to stage the cycling and marathon events during the Paralympic Games.

They were joined by members of Brazilian volleyball's seminal "Silver Generation", winners of the country's first Olympic medal in the sport, a silver at Los Angeles in 1984.


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