By Keith Nicol
Torrevieja’s first street parade continued the City of Salt’s Carnival month on Sunday with a colourful and fun parade along the main street. This parade is a judged for the Carnival competition and is a warm up for the main event, which takes place next Saturday at the earlier hour of 7:00pm, although we recommend double checking this time, as in previous years it started at 9.00pm.
With thousands of people lining the streets, local residents bringing out their chairs, flasks of coffee and sandwiches, and settle down to enjoy the spectacle. Seating is also available for rent but stand and enjoy the colour as the two hour procession makes its way from the Plaza Maria Asuncion, in front of JJ Mullins Irish Pub, along Ramon Gallud, finishing just in front of the main plaza in the centre of downtown.
The parade features dozens of local dance schools, primary schools, groups of friends who dress up just for the fun of it, plus special performances and individual groups, who put together something special just for this event. Saturday’s parade is a little more Rio like, in the skimpy clothing adorned by the major dance troops, but everything is always presented with good humour and not in a tacky way.
Although the centre of town is usually packed on a Saturday evening, for those who want to see the entire parade, there are usually great viewpoints in the street near the start of parade and close to the Virgin Del Carmen.
This is certainly the most colourful and fun of Torrevieja’s fiestas and comes right after the National Drag Queen Contest, with some of the performers in that show also joining in with the parade fun.
Attending the parade is free, but car parking spaces are limited as not only is the route lined with thousands of spectators, but with more than a thousand participants, it’s best to go early and avoid the frustration of finding a space.
Tomorrow, Tuesday is Fat Tuesday, or Shrove Tuesday to you and I. An opportunity to make pancakes and prepare for the other Carnival festivities. More details of all the Carnival events can be found at: www.Torrevieja.com.
