Wednesday 16 November 2011

Vilanova’s 'Fira de Novembre' boosts local business


The sunny weather during the weekend certainly helped a bit, but the new location and format of the traditional November trade fair in Vilanova i la Geltrú (Garraf) – this year held November 11-13 – has proved to be highly attractive. In spite of the crisis, all space had been contracted and this time the line of stands followed the local Rambles all the way down to the marina – an initiative which made the exhibition less crowded but at the same time encouraged the visitors to reach new parts of the city centre.


In connection with Fira de Novembre, the shop keepers of the town – coordinated through the association Viu Comerç – extended their Friday evening opening hours to midnight in a so called Vilanova Shopping Night and on the Sunday, the traditional Xatonada popular was housed in plaça de la Mediterrània; all of a sudden perfectly integrated with the rest of the trade fair. As always, there were performances by sport clubs and cultural entities but also attempts to make people connect in new ways, for example #LlescaTwit – a physical meeting point for Vilanova’s twitter enthusiasts.

Fira de Novembre in its current form has existed for 21 years, but can be traced back to the year 1381, when Vilanova (not yet united with la Geltrú) was granted the right to hold a fair during the first fifteen days of November.

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Read more in Catalan: Vilanova Digital and Diari de Vilanova (1, 2)

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