Thousands of visitors enjoyed the daytime feria. SUR

Cártama’s April fair “exceeded all expectations”

This year’s feria had a completely new format in order to enforce efficient health and safety measures to protect all visitors

Andrea Jiménez

Friday, 6 May 2022, 12:44

After a two-year hiatus, the people of Cártama were able to enjoy one of the town’s biggest annual gatherings, the April fair, which took place last week.

Dedicated to the town’s patron saint, Nuestra Señora de los Remedios, the town hall said that the fair had “exceeded all expectations”.

This year’s edition had a completely new format in order to enforce efficient health and safety measures to protect all visitors. This included the change of location of the fairground attractions, which were installed closer to the urban area; and a larger area for the night time feria. The council emphasised that these measures, along with the shuttle bus service, were installed to ensure that crowds and security problems could be avoided.

Councillor for Fairs and Festivals, Francis Montiel, claimed the fair had been “safe for all visitors”, adding that, according to data from the ambulance services, 24 minor incidents had been recorded, of which, just three were referred to hospital.

Montiel said that it was due to the “commitment collaboration and support” of the police, the civil protection services, associations, groups and bars, that the fair had been “such a huge a success”

This year, for the first time, the traditional descent of the Virgen de los Remedios from the hermitage to the San Pedro Church, and the subsequent procession of the patron had been broadcast through a live stream on the town hall’s website, receiving almost 60,000 hits.

The town’s mayor, Jorge Gallardo, thanked the “entire population” of Cártama for their attendance at the fair, highlighting the "huge participation, the happy atmosphere and the civic attitude".