Vilafranca is warming up for the Melon Festival and Fair 2023

As is now tradition, the first weekend of September Vilafranca de Bonany celebrates the Melon Festival and Fair. This year’s programme of activities will begin on Wednesday 30th August and will last until the end of September. However, the main event is expected to take place on Saturday 2nd September, when the ‘Festa del Meló’ will be held, now in its 52nd year, and on Sunday 3rd September, when the 29th edition of the ‘Fira del Meló’ (Melon Fair) will be held.

On this occasion, more innovative initiatives will be added to the traditional events, but “always focusing on the main protagonist of the festival and on the emblem of Vilafranca that links it with part of its agricultural past and -still- present: the melon”, according to the town council.

Programme of activities for the Melon Fair 2023

The programme of activities includes the ‘Gimcana del Meló’ – the renewed version of the ‘melompíades’ -, ‘La Nit del Melòmans’, children’s workshops related to melons, the ‘Festa de les Llanternes’ or the ‘Melofoc dels Boietons de Vilafranca’. These events will be the prelude to the ‘Firó nocturnal’, with an exhibition of craft and local products. At nightfall, the ‘Revetla de la Festa’ will feature performances by Géminis, Tomeu Penya and Eva & The Kool Katz, among other groups.

The ‘Fira del Meló’, on the following day, will give way to the ‘Concurs de Meló Gros’ and the ‘Concurs de Meló de Qualitat’, in the piel de sapo (toad skin melon) variety. There will also be a multitude of activities for everyone, including children, who will be able to attend family workshops.

At the ‘Fira del Meló’ there will also be displays of crafts, machinery, local and agri-food products, livestock, poultry… In addition, music, theatre, sports, leisure, exhibitions and conferences are scheduled throughout the month.

On Sunday 3 September it will be the turn of the ‘Tast de paella solidària’. The master rice cook Kike Martín will lead this initiative, which will raise funds for the benefit of the associations Sos Mamas and Amics de la Infància.

💡 Download the full programme of activities for the Melon Fair in Vilafranca

Exhibitions, theatre, performances and much more to liven up the festival

The XVIII ‘Certamen de cossiols’, the photography exhibition ‘Varietats mallorquines del meló’ or the ‘Tast de meló de varietats mallorquines’ will share the limelight with the ‘Melorock’ – with performances by Reggaetonpare and Ànimos Parrec on 8th September – or the ‘teatre de barra’, as well as the ‘Mostra d’indumentària tradicional mallorquina’ (Mostra of traditional Mallorcan clothing).

Visitors will be able to contemplate the wooden sculpture of a melon made with a chainsaw, which will replace the one that used to stand at the entrance to the village. They will also be able to attend the sheepdog competition.

All kinds of melons will be on display throughout the day, and there will be free melon tasting sessions in Fra Lluís street. The ‘Parc animat’ programme, aimed at children and families, as well as the ‘Literatura-ment’ programme will offer shows and literary sessions in September.