Vilagarcía, as many other coastal towns in the Rias Baixas, deploys its tourist resources giving emphasis to summertime. However, there is an aspect that makes it different: its capacity to organize events thoughout the whole year. Any time is good to know and enjoy the city, but there tends to be some events that give an added value and they are usually different from what it could be expected.
The calendar confirms it. Vilagarcían people ring in the New Year at 12 o’clock in the afternoon in a very popular act in which the participants are handed out free cava, grapes, garlands and confetti and all that seasoned with music and performances underneath an almost centenary clock – the one on top of the Town Hall. After that, the New Year starts with one of the best Three Wise Men parades in Galicia. Then, in February, it comes Carnival, with its corresponding competition of troups and its parade in which groups of all the province participate.
In March or April, coinciding with Easter, it is the time of the sports grassroot tournaments, specially soccer and basketball, which bring hundreds of sports youngsters and their families to the city. Just before Easter it is also time for the program Achégate ao Salón – come to the Salón- which takes place in the 19th century cozy Salón García and hosts concerts performed by small bands.
May starts with the the ancient “maios” contest, ornamental composition made with flowers and plants, which announce a change in harvesting and weather. As nature is changing it is the appropriate time for Ágora Vermú, another small concert program but in the street, in the open air, not indoors. At the end of May, it is Santa Rita’s time, the second most important festival in the town. Taking the romería in honor of the “patron saint of the impossible” as an excuse, there are concerts, open air dancings, street musicians and a Celt market.
With Santa Rita, comes the announcement that summer is just around the corner.
It is then, with Santa Rita’s festival, when summer announces its upcoming arrival. Between the end of June and the beginning of July Clasclás is held. This International Festival of Clasical Music brings together mentors and young musicians from different countries in order to live and learn together but also in order to offer unforgettable concerts in the pazos of A Golpelleira and Rubiáns or San Cristobal Church. Just after Clasclás, the, also, unique International Festival of Blues, Vilablues which gathers together national and international figures of this musical genre, an extraodinary event of that king in Galicia. And almost ovelapping this, the Varietés starts. It is a program of concerts organized by the bar owners of one of the most bustling streets, Méndez Núñez.
July is also the time for the Our Lady of Carmen and Apóstol Festivals, both in Vilaxoan and Carril, with its sea procession and its ancient sword dance, respectively. A little afterwards, the next program: Ás 9 na praia – at 9:00 o’clock on the beach-, some chill-out sessions on the A Concha beach aim to enjoy relaxing music and a fresh drink whilst the Sun sets behind the Barbanza mountain range.
San Roque and his dog are the undisputed protagonists of the summer
August is a non-stop month: San Roque, the Fiesta del Agua or water festival , Carril Clam Festival, Revenidas Festival in Vilaxoán, the Combate Naval – a pyrotechnic display that has existed for more than 150 years -, the also international Festiclown, the Noite das Meigas, or night of the witches, …
This frenzied pace calms down a little in September but this does not mean that it is not enticing: the Folk no Alobre romería, which takes place in the Valdés Bermejo botanic garden, and the Ameixa Rock festival, in Carril are responsible for the music; the Feria de Tapas, or tapas fair, in the Miguel Hernández park, for deli food; and EncestaRias for the sport, bringing together four ACB teams inmediately before the beginning of one of the best European basketball leagues.
In November the protagonist is going to be the Mycological Week and Castes, the Independent Wine Fair in Vilagarcía which concentrates wineries from Galicia, Portugal, Spain, France and Italy.
In December, Fexturrón, a great leisure fair that brings together an ice rink, an icy slope, bumper cars, carousels, storytellers, animation workshops ….at affordable prices starting at the beginning of December and ending after the Three Wise Men’s day. As it was already mentioned, on 31st it is time for us to have the 12 grapes –a Spanish tradition to ring in the New Year- with family and friends in the street at the same time of our antipodean, New Zealand. And then let’s start again….
