Festa Major de Gràcia 2017: Bicentennial, recommended activities

Participation and a community spirit have given shape to the more than 400 activities that celebrate the bicentennial. Participation is one of the axes of this year's special programme, which uses memories to project from the past toward the future. The nerve centre of the commemoration is the big marquee set up in the Jardinets de Gràcia. The temporary construction re-creates a traditional 19th-century dance hall with all its charms. You'll find it filled at various times with exhibitions, conferences, music, dancing, and plenty of fun in this hub of the Gràcia festival bicentennial.

Prior to the judging, everyone's on tenterhooks to see if the multi-award-winning C/Verdi will once again take the prize for the best-decorated street or if another street can strip it of its crown. Among the list of streets and squares that are always dressed up, there's a special particpant this year, 'el Carrer Gran', which extends from Pla de Nicolás Salmerón at the top of the Jardins de Salvador Espriu to Metro Fontana, adorned with 56 flag strips. With the recovery of this decorative element, this stretch of road will be another emblem of the bicentennial where you can see the work of different schools of design, such as Massana and IED. The rest of the banners are from 'Engracia't' workshop, which has already been visited by more than 3,500 students in the neighbourhood. You'll want to add this to your list of places to stroll and admire.

Gràcia digs through its past in search of the roots of its festival, the natural and floral decorations that the neighbourhood's residents used to adorn the streets in the Festa Majors of the 1800s. For example, this year C/Francesc Giner will be full of foliage, branches and boxwood garlands, travelling back in time vai the senses of sight and smell with this craft of the 'enramadors' of Sallent (Bages), one of the few places that keeps up this ancestral technique and tradition that's otherwise practically extinct.

Two of the areas with the biggest draw in Gràcia are going nostalgic with events that transport you to two important moments in the musical history of the festival in the 20th century. The yé-yé movement of the '60s is represented in Plaça del Diamant with live music from Los Sirex and Los Mustang (Thu 17). And the Nova Cançó is under the spotlight during the '70s theme night in Plaça del Sol (Wed 16), featuring Francesc 'Quico' Pi de la Serra and the Grupo Cosas & Cobla Sant Jordi. Get out and celebrate 200 years of the festival, and here's to many more!