"Without the people of Southern Catalonia we couldn't do something so big"

The BarcarésThe town of Barcarès, in Roussillon, Northern Catalonia, has made a name for itself both in France and in the southern Albera region for its Christmas theme park, which is celebrating its 26th edition this year. Last year, despite a fire just days before the opening and other weather-related incidents, it nearly attracted a million visitors, and in 2023 it registered even more, close to 1.6 million. However, at the beginning of October, it was far from certain that the Barcarès Christmas Village would be held again this year. "Last year was very complicated, and this year we had no intention of doing it. We had the fire, the windstorm, the rain, the mayor also has some political and legal complications, and we need about 150 people to work here, and in a small town that's not easy to find. All of this meant that we didn't want to do it this year," explains Michel Sit.

Important for the local economy

But several calls to the City Hall made them reconsider their decision. "When the summer season ends, around September 15th, we have to start setting up the Christmas theme park, and there's a lot of work involved; it's complicated. But people started calling the mayor, the deputy mayor, and the City Hall. They said they couldn't not do it. 'All the people who come here are important for the businesses,'" Sitjà adds.

"For seven weeks, we've been working from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. every weekend. We've been lucky with good weather and haven't had any problems in that regard in setting up the village," explains Sitjà.

New location

One of the reasons for not holding the Christmas village this year was the impossibility of doing so in its usual location. "We had to change it because there's construction going on at the previous site, and with trucks constantly moving back and forth, it was impossible to do it there," explains Sitjà. This year, it's located next to the old town of Barcarès, and the area is slightly smaller than the previous one: 5,500 m².² It has moved to just over 5,000 m²"We're only missing an ice rink, but we have practically everything: an ice rink, the ice museum, and the attractions from previous years, with just as many decorations and little houses as before. What makes it such a big success are the lights," says the director of services for the Barcarès Town Hall, adding that "it's illuminated even without daylight."

And the other factor that makes the Christmas village so big is the large influx of visitors from the south, which is practically 40%. "The Immaculate Conception weekend was a huge success; on Saturday we had almost 45,000 visitors. This year, many people are coming from Lleida and Barcelona," Sitjà points out. "With the electronic tickets, we can see that almost 40% of our visitors are from Southern Catalonia, which is a very significant percentage. Before, they came mainly during the Immaculate Conception long weekend. Some people know that it's very crowded during that time, and now they spread their visits over the different weekends."

"If it weren't for so many people coming from the south, it would be difficult to do something so big here, because we're a town of 6,000 inhabitants; we're a small town," Sitjà concludes. This year, the Christmas village will be open until January 4th, and the expectation is to repeat last year's attendance: close to one million visitors.