It's Contraband, but the one that makes happy finance ministers e secretaries of state dance. The Smuggling Festival returns to traffic culture, street arts and lots of entertainment between Alcoutim and Sanlúcar de Guadiana, from the 29th to the 31st of March, and giving everyone the opportunity to cross the river on foot, thanks to a temporary pedestrian bridge.
Over the three days of the event, there will be street entertainment, with historical recreations that will recall the time – not so distant – when the Guadiana was a wall, not a passage.
Now, everyone is invited to freely cross the border, without having to worry about the Fiscal Guard or the Carabineros.
Across the border there is a lot going on, from street arts to entertainment for the youngest, through food stalls and, of course, stalls with lots of handicrafts and local products.
Osvaldo Gonçalves, president of the Alcoutim Chamber, which organizes the event, explained to Sul Informação that, although this festival is already a reference in Portugal and Spain and an anchor event for this municipality in the Northeast of Algarve and for its Spanish neighbor Sanlúcar, the municipality insists on keeping it as traditional as possible.
«In terms of our experience, the improvements that we are always trying to introduce with each new edition have to do, above all, with the issue of the restoration, the layout of the little stores, always with the concern of never losing our identity the event», explained Osvaldo Gonçalves.
"We cherish the Smuggling Festival as something of our own, an anchor event for the county, and we were always concerned that, in this need to grow, to respond to the great demand, we would not lose that identity," he added.
In 2019, the program includes, as always, street theaters by animation groups from different parts of Portugal and Spain, concerts, taverns and a handicraft and local products fair.
There will also be workshops on traditional trades, under the responsibility of the TASA – Técnicas Ancestralis, Soluções Atuals project. O complete program can be found here.
“What turns out to be the big news is the greater involvement on the part of our Spanish partners.
Sanlúcar has made an enormous effort in terms of seeking funding, on the Spanish side, for this event, similar to what we have at “365Algarve”, without which it would not be possible to do something with this dimension», said Osvaldo Gonçalves.
In 2019, Sanlúcar de Guadiana got support from the Regional Government of Andalusia and the Deputácion de Huelva, «which improves the conditions for them to participate in the party».
In other words, a party – and a tough one – will not be lacking on either side of the Guadiana, nor smugglers that pass animation and culture between Alcoutim and Sanlúcar.
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