The town of Dartmouth will soon have a new sibling.

At a virtual Select Board meeting on Sept. 21, members unanimously voted to become a twin town with Lagoa, Algarve, Portugal.

According to Vice Chair Shawn McDonald, this would be first sister city in continental Europe, although the town is also twinned with its namesake in the United Kingdom as well as three other towns in the Azores. 

In 2019, the vice chair spent some of his time in the rocky southern Algarve region making connections with government workers and administrators in order to set up a sister city agreement between Dartmouth and the area.

During his trip, he met with the president and the vice president of the county, introducing them to the town of Dartmouth through a video produced by Dartmouth Community Television.

Under the agreement, the two communities would be able to have educational, cultural, and social, and also governmental exchanges, McDonald explained.  

“I think this is a good opportunity,” McDonald said. “There’s no cost to the town.”

Now approved, McDonald said the mayor of the Lagoa-Algarve parish will visit Dartmouth “at some point in time” to formally sign the sisterhood agreement.