Feria de Agosto

Annually, the City of Malaga, Costa del Sol, Spain hold their August fair which started way back in 1487 to acknowledge the taking of Malaga by the Catholic monarchs on 18th August 1487. Following the taking of the City, they were given a religious statue of ‘Virgen de la Victoria’ (virgin of victory). The original celebration was in the form of a procession on the Feast day of the Assumption and was essentially a memorial, but today, the annual fair is a joyful, entertaining, firework filled affair from the 9th to the 16th August.

It all kicks off with a parade and of course, as is obligatory for ANY reason in Europe – Beautiful fireworks!!! The following day, the locals take to the streets in traditional Andalucian dress with red frills and flounces. The traditional dance of the region is referred to as ‘Sevillanas’ who take dancing in the streets to another level - Plenty of clicking of castanet and a fair bit of maracas shaking, skirt swishing and foot stomping to behold.

The fairs referred to are either ‘Feria de la noche’ (night fair) or ‘Feria de la dia’ (day fair). There is also some friendly rivalry between the cities of Malaga and Seville resulting in them trying to ‘out party’ each other annually.

The Festival of Light by Night opens with a public address and then the enormous fireworks display begins. The big bang of course is best viewed from vantage points around the Port of Malaga. By day, the celebrations concentrate around the city’s Marques de Larios which is compared to our Bond Street whereas by night, the event moves onto the outskirts of the City to a massive custom-made fairground with the usual plethora of entertainment on offer including of course the traditional music and dance, food and drink, entertainment and local artisans showing their wares and rides and attractions. On the other hand, you could go along to the bullfight at the City’s La Malageta to see the national sport of Spain for yourself. The bullfighting season runs from April to September but the ‘main event’ of the calendar is seen as the Feria de Agosto.