Amposta Market Square Festival
The Festa del Mercat a la Plaça turns Amposta's old town into a recreation of local life in the early twentieth century. Residents, organisations, craftspeople and performers fill the streets and squares with memory, period dress, trades, music, theatre and food.
Usual date
It takes place over a weekend in mid-May. The market and main events normally span three days, with preliminary activities, exhibitions and related events.
Origins and purpose
The festival began as a collective project to recover the memory of Amposta roughly a century ago. Each edition uses a theme to interpret work, leisure, culture and social change in that period within the setting of the Ebro and its delta.
Market and setting
The Mercat d'Època brings crafts, trade demonstrations, taverns and stalls to the old town streets. Period clothing, decorated façades and shop windows, carts, rondalles and characters from historic Amposta make visitors part of the recreation.
Characteristic events
- Opening ceremony with an invited speaker, bands, choirs and local organisations.
- Theatre, circus, cabaret, music, rondalles and traditional dancing.
- Cart rides, classic bicycles, town trails and trips on the Ebro.
- Market, tapas, taverns, themed dinners and local food.
- Exhibitions, dress and shop-window competitions, and craft demonstrations.
- Lo Passeig and the closing pyrotechnic event.
Participation
The council, cultural associations, musical societies, schools, businesses, museums, performers and many volunteers sustain a festival conceived as a public exercise in memory and community life.
See also the guide to local festivals and public holidays in Amposta.