Feria do Cerrado, Goiânia: social participation in local development of view

This research, aimed to analyze the 'Cerrado Fair' as a local development instrument with social participation of artisans. The purpose was to indicate how and whether a craft fair can contribute to local development through a group of artisans. The methodological procedure was the exploratory research with a literature review in the areas of sustainable local development and social participation; and a case study about the 'Cerrado Fair', a craft fair, located in Goiânia, Brazil. It was used the technique of descriptive study and field research with semi-structured interviews applied to managers and fairground, as well as the observation of the fair and informal conversations with this fairground in order to identify the actual situation and make an analysis of how has been the relationship between leaders and fairground. And then is given the focus on the craft activities and the 'Cerrado Fair' object of study, with the expectation that local development is facilitating the improvement of the quality of life of specific groups.

Key words:
social participation; local development; 'Cerrado Fair'