Castalla’s Christmas Fair offers a wide range of commercial and cultural offerings in keeping with tradition
- The Christmas market will bring together local businesses and associations in the town centre on 17, 18 and 19 December
The Castalla Christmas Fair will fill the town with activities on 17, 18 and 19 December. The fair will offer a wide commercial and cultural offer to the whole population without leaving aside the tradition that characterises these dates. During the three days there will be dances, workshops, theatres, parades and entertainment groups in the streets of the city centre. The councillor for Commerce and Tourism, Maite Gimeno, explained that “we have prepared proposals for all audiences, with dances, theatres, markets and workshops, ranging from the most Christmas-like to the most modern”.
The focal point of the fair will be the Plaza de la Font Vella, in the heart of the city centre, where the Christmas tree will be located, next to the Town Hall Nativity Scene. From this point, the Christmas market will spread out towards Avenida República Argentina. Local shops and associations will be the main protagonists in this sector, and will have twenty-three wooden stalls to display their products to visitors.
The opening of the Christmas Fair will take place on Friday 17 December at 17.00 hours and the official inauguration will be on Saturday 18 at 12:00 hours. On Friday evening, at 19.00 hours, the ‘Festival of Light’ and the arrival of the angels will take place. From this moment on, the whole of the proposal programmed in the calendar will be deployed.
In addition, Gimeno explained, “the fair will also have a medieval farm – with chickens, ducks and dromedaries, among other animals – and a children’s playground for the little ones”. The councillor remarked that “there will be classic Christmas activities such as tambourine, musical instrument, carpentry and esparto grass workshops, as well as Nativity scene adoration”.
Likewise, the setting is another of the strong points of the Christmas Fair. In addition to the classic decorations with traditional motifs and lighting, the Consistory has set up a photocall. The idea is that the public can immortalise their passage through the market next to a sleigh pulled by reindeer, with a Father Christmas atmosphere, accompanied by deer and polar bears. The icing on the cake will be the artificial snowfall, which will dye the streets of Castalla white.
Children will also have different options to have fun during the weekend. They will be able to take part in workshops and children’s games, making crafts, cards, Christmas decorations and snowmen. They will also have the opportunity to take part in a parade set in the Disney universe with up to 12 different characters. Another interesting proposal is the Escape Room, in the Casa de Cultura on Saturday 18 December from 17.00.
Finally, dances and music will play a major role in the event. The students of the Santa Cecilia and María Asunta Music and Dance Schools will perform a large number of shows. In particular, visitors will be surprised with the Christmas flashmob, and will be able to enjoy classical and urban dances such as ‘Dancing in the snow’, ‘Les Nines’, ‘The Christmas dancers’ or ‘The Christmas tambourines’.
On the other hand, Maite Gimeno also referred to the sanitary conditions related to Covid-19. For the councillor, “the location is appropriate as we will be in a large open-air space, in optimal conditions of safety and ventilation, which allows us to avoid crowds and curb the proliferation of the virus”.
