Staff Reporter
By Michael Coy
SOME people will tell you that it’s by far the most important week in Andalucía’s year (the one who tells you is probably a sevillano) – but there’s no question about it – The Feria de Sevilla matters. It’s a big earner.
But for eight months, the 2025 Feria dates have been clouded in political controversy. However, all doubts have finally been resolved: the Feria de Abríl will start on Monday, May 5, and will finish on the following Sunday.
Two philosophies have been at war over the Feria format. A lot of the city’s businesses wanted the ‘long form’ Feria, an entire week running Saturday to Saturday, to maximise takings.
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Others wanted the traditional Feria, Monday to Sunday. It was decided to hold a referendum and allow the citizens to choose the shape of their annual festival. The short format won narrowly. The political vote at a full council meeting on Thursday, January 16 confirmed the victory, and the Feria of 2025 will now run from May 5-11.
But it was close. The parties of the Left (PSOE, and Podemos/IU) were in favour of the extended Feria, whereas the conservatives (PP) wanted the traditional option. The party known as ‘Vox’ held the balance, but because Vox is closely associated with anti-immigration, it was felt that the less controversial course of action would be to put it to the people in a referendum. In the council vote on the referendum results, Vox opted to abstain, and as a result the casting vote of the mayor (José Luis Sanz) won it for the PP by the narrowest possible margin.
It’s far from a trivial matter. People come from all over the world to enjoy the week-long street party. The city takes in 6,000 million euros. One sector of the economy in particular which has been very nervous about the delay over dates is the Association of Seville Hotels. “The uncertainty has been very worrying,” said Antonio Cornax, president of the Association. “We could not take reservations without firm dates. Our problem now is to get the information out there as fast as possible.”
The owners of the many dozens of casetas have also had a difficult winter. A caseta is the time-honoured hospitality tent, usually decked out in the green and white of Andalucía. Inside, visitors can eat, drink and dance. Each caseta is owned by a Seville organisation (it might be a church, a football club or a law firm), and by means of a complex set of negotiations the caseta hires a team of waiters and bar staff to run the week’s catering. This is usually all sorted before Christmas, but this year it has had to await the council’s decision.
A word of caution if you’re thinking of going – Sevilla is the only Feria in the whole of Andalucía which operates a ‘restricted entry’ policy. Many casetas employ security guards to turn visitors away. So call your Sevila friends, and wangle an invitation!
Sevilla has been experimenting for 10 years or so with festival dates, since some business people feel that the old-fashioned Feria has become too restrictive and does not reflect the reality of today’s leisure market. The ‘long’ format was tried in 2016, but this year is the first time that a referendum has been held. FACUA (the consumer watchdog) says it will look into allegations that fraudulent votes have been cast.
The Sevilla branch of PSOE (Labour) says that if it is returned to power at the next election, it will change back to the Saturday-to-Saturday Feria plan. At the moment the conservatives hold 14 seats, and Labour 12. Vox, with 3 seats, holds the balance.
Regarding Vox, it now emerges that the anti-immigration party has won a concession in return for abstaining. The far-right party has been campaigning to establish San Fernando’s Day (30 May) as a Bank Holiday (San Fernando is Seville’s Patron Saint). Vox has made it clear that this strategy – voting or abstaining on big issues in such a way as to ‘buy’ agreement on its pet policies – in the future. Observers say that Vox wants some of the city’s health budget to be diverted to support anti-abortion groups.
