photos: Facebook.com/LeoHayesPhotography
Calentita’s Growing Gains:
words | Johnny Calamar
The Big Food Festival & Street Party Some say it’s a victim of its own success. The number of food tents and hungry visitors has grown very significantly. Its home — Casemates Square — hasn’t. But, as the Gibraltar Magazine revealed last month, the organisers of Calentita are expanding the annual event’s footprint to allow space for both ‘Calentita the food festival’ and ‘Calentita the street party’ to blossom on 21st June. If you’ve organised a children’s party before, you’ll know that it’s almost as important to get the entertainment right, as it is to provide good quality (and also good value for money) food. There were some 20 people at the last children’s party I attended. In 2013, Calentita catered for upwards of 5,000! This presents various challenges for the organisers, Word of Mouth, who produce the event alongside and on behalf of the Ministry of
Culture. The principal challenge is where to fit these thousands of people. The solution this year is to expand in a big way into Market Place, next to and around the Public Market and the bus stops. With an even longer long table than 2013, live music and — most importantly — some of your favourite food tents located here, Market Place is going to be transformed on 21st June. The roads will be closed and the noise of car and motorbike exhausts will be replaced with the sort of merry hustle and bustle that has become part and parcel of the Calentita experience. Dozens of craftsmen and women will also be located here in Market Place, showing off a growing selection of Gibraltarian creativity and skill. Putting all these elements together, I can’t help but think that Calentita is like the Rock’s very own Jemaa el-Fnaa — the beautiful market place in Marrakech’s
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historic medina. (If you haven’t visited, you really should take advantage of the newly established link — it’s an amazing city.) Of course, Marrakech’s market is permanent, much, much bigger than Calentita; in fact, it is recognised by UNESCO as a ‘Masterpiece of the Ora and Intangible Heritage of Humanity’. But the comparison reminds us that it is possible to marry a large number of varied and exciting food stalls with a street party atmosphere, while celebrating and protecting Gibraltarian traditions, voices, smells and tastes. All of this in a public space open to everyone, free of charge. In the days leading up to Calentita, the organisers will publish a full list of stalls and delicious foods you can expect to find at Casemates and Market Place on the evening of Saturday 21st June. Food. Culture. Music. Party... See you there! n www.facebook.com/CalentitaFestival
it is possible to marry a large number of varied and exciting food stalls with a street party atmosphere, while celebrating and protecting Gibraltarian traditions 77
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