All set and raring to go for Malaga's spectacular summer fair

The city of Malaga has been putting the finishing touches this week to the huge set-up and arrangements for this year’s August fair - often said to be the largest summer event of its type in southern Europe. Hundreds of thousands of visitors each day will descend on the two sites - the historic streets of the city centre until 6pm and the out-of- town fairground into the evening and through the night. The event runs at full steam from tomorrow (Saturday, 17 August) until nighttime on 24 August.

The person responsible for overseeing the running for the last 24 ‘ferias’ is Malaga city councillor Teresa Porras. Speaking this week to SUR as workers finished installing lighting and fitting out the ‘caseta’ pavilions at the evening fairground, Porras said all would be ready in time.

“The first day of the ‘feria’ is the worst [for nerves]. It is when you can see if everything is really working. The important thing is to quickly solve anything you spot not going right.”

The out-of-town fairground, with its 120 caseta pavilions to visit for food, drink and entertainment plus the rides and attractions is the same as setting up a temporary venue “the equivalent of a city like Toledo”, added Porras. “It is two months of work with many private firms and the city hall operations staff taking part. A lot of people put food on the table thanks to the fair.”

A consumers’ group has estimated that the average spend at the feria per visitor over the week will be 76 euros this year, up 13 per cent on 2023.

One previous problem that the council organisers are confident of having solved now was a rise in drunkenness and antisocial behaviour in the part of the fair in the city centre in years gone by. With the support of bar and restaurant owners, nowadays the central fair finishes at 6pm, meaning a focus on more traditional street entertainment and encouraging revellers to move to the fairground, while allowing the city to get back to normal. “Tourists get up early and want to go walking about and the city centre has to be ready,” Porras explained.

The town hall has launched an app, GeoCasetas, to help people identify the different entertainment pavilions at the out-of-town fairground.

It has also published its list of special arrangements for the feria period, reminding managers of the casetas at the fairground that they cannot charge anyone for entry.

More transport

Officials are also urging people to visit the two venues by public transport if possible, although parking is available. Extra and later city buses, metro trains and taxis will be laid on to get people around and the Cercanías train line to Fuengirola will finish slightly later than normal and start earlier (for those heading home after a full night out).

Renfe, the main train operator, is putting on almost 15,000 extra seats on its long distance high speed services from Madrid for the fair to make a total of 106,200.