Gràcia dresses up for a quieter and more neighborhood version of its festivities

An evening without concerts or amplified music; a change of dates in the decorated streets contest with the hope of reducing crowds, and a firm commitment to inclusive activities mark this year's Gràcia festivities. The city's most crowded major festival seeks to maximize its essence, embodied in orchestra dances, community dinners, and the essential decorated streets, in an edition that will run from Thursday until next Wednesday, preceded by an opening speech that will kick off the festivities this Wednesday.

In fact, this year's heralds represent a declaration of intent of this desire to elevate the essence of the major festival. The gegantons Torradet and Gresca, two figures that are part of the neighborhood's festive imaginary, will be in charge of starting the festival. The two gegantons, celebrating their 25th anniversary, reflect the determination to recover the original character of the festival and to put neighbors at the center, avoiding massification and crowds.

With this objective, the festival has programmed a novelty for this year: a quiet night in which music will not reverberate through the neighborhood, neither in concerts nor on loudspeakers. Calm will prevail in Gràcia on the night of Sunday the 18th, to give way to the prominence of community dinners, with neighbors taking to the streets with tables, chairs, and the festive neighborhood atmosphere. Conceived by the organizers, the Fundació Festa Major de Gràcia, this evening aims to improve coexistence with neighbors who do not usually participate in the nocturnal activities of the festivities and, furthermore, reduce the pull effect of the hundreds of visitors who travel daily to the vila to enjoy its atmosphere, its concerts, and the decoration of its streets.

This is not the only measure focused on enhancing the neighborhood character of festivities that even have access controllers on the streets to deal with crowds. In an attempt to reduce them, the winner of the decorated streets contest will not be made public until Monday, August 19, to try to prevent crowds from gathering in the awarded streets as early as the weekend, when the contest used to be decided. These are measures appreciated by the festival committees of the various streets that make up the program, and some have even gone further. To reduce the arrival of visitors who collapse their streets and whose activities die of success, several streets choose not to publicize their program, especially concerts, as Marta explains from the Llibertat street festival committee.

"This is a year of trials and new formulas to avoid crowds, which even includes an internal review of how to make the decorations. Now we avoid placing elements on the ground, so that people can pass without piling up," says Laia Miller from the Tordera street committee. "We are fighting a very big giant, but we all have the responsibility to contribute to trying to avoid crowds," she adds while finalizing decorations that will immerse the street under a school of jellyfish. From their experience, Maite Torres from Puigmartí street advocates going further: "A quiet night is not enough, more should be programmed during the day and less at night." Torres, who has accumulated more than 50 years participating in the decoration of her street, defends that the most relevant aspect of this edition is that the will to reduce crowds and focus on the neighbors is shared by all the actors of the festival: "We are all united."

In addition to prioritizing measures to strengthen the neighborhood essence of the festival and to mitigate crowds, this year's edition has set itself the goal of offering inclusive proposals and activities. Thus, visits will be organized for people with reduced mobility and also with high sensitivity, as well as adapted routes for people with disabilities. Awareness about unwanted loneliness has also found a place in the festival: Joanic square will host a specific program on this issue on Tuesday and Wednesday, with activities ranging from storytelling to dance, magic, and micro-theater shows.

This return to the origins through gegantons and neighborhood dinners will also be palpable in Verdi street, which has prepared a decoration that will transport visitors to the marquees that were erected in Gràcia during the main festival from the 19th century until the 70s. These characteristic awnings will take the most nostalgic back to a past that will also be present in Progrés and Puigmartí streets, which this year will receive recognition for accumulating more than one hundred years participating in street decoration. This year they will do so by turning Progrés into a tribute to video games, and Puigmartí into Ancient Egypt.

Precisely Maite Torres and her family have been part of this history of the decoration of Puigmartí street: "My grandparents already did it, and then my parents. I've been doing it since I was 14, and now I'm 67," she explains while shaping elements with foam that will give a pharaonic air to the street. The proposals of Progrés and Puigmartí are included among those of the 23 streets participating this year in the contest, in which Mozart can be seen reconverted into Japan, Berga and Lluís Vives submerged in the bottom of the sea, Providència moved to Las Vegas, and Ciudad Real as a Republican School.

Tradition and popular culture also play a relevant role in the program: the festivities will begin on Thursday the 15th with the Popular Culture Parade, and will feature as highlights the gegants that will take to the streets on Saturday in August, and the castellers on Sunday. However, a Catalan tradition rooted in the neighborhood has been left out of the festival: the correfoc and the other fire acts that were planned will finally not be included in the program due to disagreements between the collectives in charge. However, the festivities go much further, and include dozens of activities and proposals, including artisan fairs in Plaça de la Virreina and Plaça del Diamant.

Except for the silent Sunday night, the Gràcia festivities will offer evening performances daily

The vindication of the role of women will also take shape during the festivities, from a historical point of view. Gràcia will take advantage of the loudspeaker of its festivities to make the official change of the name of three of its streets. Until now dedicated to saints, they will be replaced by the names of the real women who inspired their nomenclature, linked to relatives of the estate that was located on the land. Thus, Santa Àgata will become Àgata Badia i Puig-rodon street; Santa Rosa will be Rosa Puig-rodon street, and Santa Magdalena will be Magdalena E. Blanc street. These changes will be another distinctive element of festivities that look beyond the celebration and seek to foster coexistence and an inclusive model while preserving the essence of the neighborhood and its emblematic main festival.