Festivals in Igualada
Local festivals in Igualada
The Festa Major de Sant Bartomeu is Igualada's principal patronal celebration and a tradition documented since the fourteenth century. The City Council organises the programme with popular-culture groups, colles, associations, artists and sports clubs.
Usual celebration
The festival is usually celebrated for approximately one week around 24 August. Central streets and squares, Plaça de l'Ajuntament, Cal Font, Parc Central and cultural venues host the opening speech, tronada, Sant Bartomeu procession, cercaviles, giants, big-head figures, festival beasts, correfocs, castells, concerts, theatre, sport and family activities. Its historic figures and dances distinguish Igualada's ceremonial procession.
Programme for 2025: historical reference
The latest complete municipal edition used as a reference ran from 18 to 25 August 2025 and comprised 135 activities: 34 musical performances, 32 traditional and festival-figure events, 12 family and children's activities and 11 sports fixtures, as well as theatre and guided visits. It included a cercavila and procession with quiet sections, correfocs through the centre, a castells gathering, concerts at Cal Font and Plaça de l'Ajuntament, and a fair beside Parc Central. This is a past edition and does not describe the 2026 programme.
Local public holidays in 2026
The Generalitat's official calendar designates Tuesday 7 April and Monday 24 August as Igualada's local public holidays. Only these two dates are municipal paid, non-recoverable non-working days; the full duration of the Festa Major does not thereby become a public holiday.
Other cultural events
Festa de Reis, Els Tres Tombs, Carnival, Sant Jordi, Festa de l'Arbre de Maig and the Christmas season complete the cultural calendar. Local organisations and residents take part in these traditions through their own routes, performances and events in different months and places across the city.