Festa Major de Gràcia 2014

The main event at Gràcia’s extravagant Festa Major is its street competition, where residents transform some 25 streets into pirate ships, rainforests and Jurassic landscapes. The festival opens with giants and castles in Plaça de la Vila de Gràcia, and climaxes with a correfoc (fire-running) and a castell de focs (castle of fireworks). In between, there are some 600 activities, from concerts to bouncy castles. And all of these events and activities see the neighbourhood taken over by an estimated 1.5 million revellers every August in an eclectically festive mix that includes everyone from local pensioners to inebriated air guitarists, all out to have a good time. While the daytime is packed with activities for kids and families, the real fun usually begins sometime in the early evening and doesn’t start to wind down until the wee hours of the morning.