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Thursday, May 16, 2013

VALLE LUNA FESTIVAL 2014

The 5th edition of the popular Valle Luna Festival will definitely go ahead in 2014, according to members of the organising committee. The festival which suffered from a lack of funding for it's 4th edition is now being planned well ahead of the 2014 event and hopes for some form of funding and sponsorship for the 5th annual event are high. The dates for the 5th annual Valle Luna festival in Valle Gran Rey, La Gomera have already been set to allow visitors and artists more time to plan their stay on La Gomera. It will take place in February to include the second and the third weekend in February 2014, making it a 10-day event again. 
Watch this blog for further festival news.
UPDATE Dec. 18th, 2013:
The 5th edition of the Valle Luna Festival is in doubt again, due to new and costly insurance obligations, the lack of volunteers to to the legwork and the indifference of the local town hall. However, it is still hoped to have some form of festivities. Any volunteers and/or sponsors out there ?
UPDATE Jan. 13th, 2014:
The 5th Valle Luna Festival is going ahead, albeit as a minor event. Due to the lack of support and interest by the local administration and the restrictive and demanding new legislation which demands an elaborate emergency plan, security personnel and costly insurance for every event, it will now only be a bar festival. It is up to the restaurants and bars to organise their own events during the period from the second to the third weekend in February. However, it is hoped that even more musicians and artists will turn up this year. Maybe all should get together and protest against this new form of repression…
If the authorities had any sense, they would support this and many more events, because live music is very attractive to tourists and the musicians and other artists themselves already are an important segment of the paying customers. In Ireland the vibrant live music scene has become one of the main attractions besides the landscape and has helped to boost tourist numbers as well as adding quality to the tourism product. 
Artists and their audiences generally spend a lot more than hikers, but even early-rising hikers want to be entertained at least on some nights - but not necessarily by ear-splitting Miami-style pop-salsa until 6am. There's  too much of the latter and too little variety to be found here lately. Every day I get asked by visitors where to find live events and it is embarrassing to have to admit that there is very little, when everyone can see lots of tourists who are musicians walking around with their instruments.
Let's pARTy in February anyway !
See previous post on the live music situation on La Gomera with lots of comments.

2 comments :

Jane said...

Hi there,

Thanks for posting this info on the festival. I noticed it was written in May. We are about to book flights and wonder if you can confirm please that the festival is sure to be on - really don't want to miss it!

Cheers, Jane

La Gomera said...

The latest information I got a few days ago from the organisers is that the festival is going ahead, but the exact format isn't clear yet as problems have arisen due to new event regulations which came into force this summer. It will, however take place in some shape or form, but there aren't any guarantees. I'll post any important news on this blog.