The 17th Fuengirola International Fair – Four days of music, dance, food and fun!
The 17th Fuengirola International Fair – four days of music, dance, food and fun!
Friday April the 29th sees the opening of the 17th International fair organized by the Ayuntamiento de Fuengirola. This annual fair attracted over 900,000 visitors last year and that figure is expected to rise this year with the four days of the fair coinciding with the May Day holiday weekend.
This family orientated fair is held in the huge Fuengirola fairground and has something for everyone. From the entrance to the fairground by the arches children will be drawn towards the host of fairground attractions stretching almost halfway towards the Palacio de la Paz, which is at the head of the fairground.
A combination of 34 countries and Spanish regions take over the permanent casetas, these are buildings owned by clubs and associations, all of which have stages, bars and kitchens. Each country or region decorates their caseta with memorabilia and flags and provide traditional food and entertainment. Many times the entertainment spills out into the street and visitors get caught up with sambas, polkas, cheerleaders and line dancers. Bands of musicians wander around playing traditional instruments and sometime join up with other groups, especially the Scots and the Galicians who both enjoy the Gaita or bagpipes…at full blast!
The Argentineans and Uruguayans both have huge barbeque pits totally covered in meats and sausages, filling the air with delicious aromas. The Finnish have whole sides of salmon slowly cooking at the side of log fires, and there are many rotating kebabs each sporting a different meat mixture at the many Middle Eastern countries. The Galician kitchen is redolent with the smell of cooking octopus, the Germans serve up enormous worst, a spicy sausage, the USA have triple burgers and pulled pork sandwiches with brownies for those with a sweet tooth, and the Indians have a pungently aromatic curry bubbling away.
Go hungry to this fair and try food that you would not normally get the chance to experience, it is not expensive and the choice is vast.
Participating this year are Germany, Argentina, Asturias, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cadiz, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, Scotland, Finland, Fuengirola, Galicia, Hawaii, India, Ireland, Jordan, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Norway, Palestine, Paraguay, Persia, Peru, Portugal, Thailand, United States of America, Uruguay and Venezuela.
The caseta with the most diverse music choice will be the USA, they have announced a massive 8 hours of entertainment every day including a “50s Rock and Roll show” on Friday 29th, one of the top Michael Jackson Tribute acts and “The Beerbellys” (a Rockabilly group) both on Saturday and Sunday, and a “Studio 54” style disco every night from 1.00am.
The International fair is held in the recinto ferial in Fuengirola, site of the open market on Tuesdays and boot sale on Saturdays. The fair starts on Friday 29th April and runs until Monday 2nd May, the attractions and casetas open at 1pm and close at 4am each day.
The official procession is on Saturday 30th April at 12.00h starting at the Fuengirola Town Hall and heading to the fairground, and all afternoon there will be music and dancing in the streets of the fairground.
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