The most eagerly awaited festival of the Ibizan winter, the Sant Antoni Flower Festival, becomes Super Flower this year to celebrate its 20th anniversary this Saturday, all day long, on the Passeig de ses Fonts. This is one of the main features of the local patron saint’s fiestas programme, which was presented this Thursday morning by the mayor, Marcos Serra, and the councillor for Fiestas, Miguel Tur. The activities begin on the 13th of January and will continue until the 25th of February.
The mayor stressed that the program brings together events and activities for all ages, such as sports and recreational events, cultural shows, children’s and youth activities and musical events. “The program is designed with the idea of continuing fent poble and take advantage of these days to celebrate together our patron saint festivities, so we invite the portmanyins and the rest of the population of the island to participate in these festivities during the months of January and February,” said Serra
The Flower will feature market, shows, live performances and many surprises. From 12.30 pm will start the Mini Flower, a children’s party with workshops and face painting, and from 7 pm is scheduled the concert of The Groovy Brothers and sessions of DJ’s Javi Box, Mr. Cardona and Pharma with the best music of the 60s and 70s. In addition, this Saturday the Premis de l’Esport will be awarded at the Cine Regio, in an event that will recognize the most outstanding athletes of the municipality during the year 2023.
During the weekend, also highlights the magical event ‘WizarDracs’ dedicated to the Harry Potter universe, which will be held Saturday and Sunday at the Espai Jove with various activities organized by Dracs d’Ibiza as board games, children’s and youth workshops, gymkhanas, quidditch, funkobingo or Cosplay contest.
Also, on Sunday at 11 am will take place at the Cine Regio the XXI Festival de balls, música i cançó, organized this year by the Grup Folklòric Brisa de Portmany and will feature the participation of the Agrupació folklòrica Aires de Muntanya (Selva, Mallorca), Un parell de tres, and the performance of Vicent Frit and Maria Cardona.
Cultural events
Cultural events will have great prominence in the festivities of Sant Antoni with different events such as the dramatized family show ‘Iluminarte’ in the Far de ses Coves Blanques; the poetry recital ‘Es gat en vers_homenatge a na Nora Albert’, with the collaboration of the Grup de Teatre del Institut d’Estudis Eivissencs (January 16); the poetic musical aperitif in tribute to Nora Albert, by Mon & Marcel, at sa Punta des Molí (January 20), or the inauguration of the exhibition and documentary ‘Ibiza, between words, verses and songs’, directed and produced by Eva Santamaría, which can be visited from January 26 to February 29 at the Far de ses Coves Blanques.
The program also includes a ‘Concert by candlelight’, a musical performance by the string quartet with piano Sonora, in the church of Sant Antoni (February 2); the theatrical performance ‘Una mare arreveixinada’, by the Theater Group of the Neighborhood Association of Es Molí, in the Cine Regio (February 4), or the dramatized reading ‘Walter Benjamin in Sant Antoni’, which will take place on February 9 in sa Punta des Molí.
On the other hand, the Department of Social Services has also organized ‘Cinema and Memory’, a meeting on films shot in Sant Antoni in the twentieth century, with a lecture and discussion by the filmmaker Enrique Villalonga and psychologist Ana Serapio, which will take place on Friday, January 19 at 10 am at the Cervantes Cultural Center.
The Patron Saint’s Day
The big day of Sant Antoni, Wednesday, January 17, will begin at 12 noon with the solemn mass, followed by a procession. Then, in front of the Town Hall, there will be the traditional blessing of animals and an exhibition of ball pagès by sa Colla de Portmany. From 2 pm, it will be the turn of the Guateque party ‘Anem de palanca’, which returns in its XXI edition to the location of Passeig de ses Fonts with performances by the Duo Juvent’s, formed in Barcelona in the 60s, with a great repertoire of pop rock. Then, Luis Muñoz, a singer from Campo de Criptana, will perform, paying tribute to the great voices of Spanish music such as Raphael, Julio Iglesias, Nino Bravo, Camilo Sesto or Manolo Escobar.
Music. Regarding the musical performances, highlights the concert of Groove Garage, to be held next to the dinner torrada of ‘senalló’ in the area of the booths of Passeig de ses Fonts (January 16); the concert of Lemot, a Galician band that has become one of the great novelties of national pop rock (January 19) or the concert of Tatuaje, a trio of pop rock that mixes styles such as indie, rock, pop and techno (January 20).
Sports activities
The sport continues to have great prominence as usual in the Fiestas de Sant Antoni and will feature several events such as the Petanque Tournament (January 17), the First Balearic Indoor Trophy speed skating (January 20), the Table Tennis Tournament and the Bassetja Pull (January 21), the Judo Trophy and the Trial Festes de Sant Antoni (January 28), the Motocross Festes de Sant Antoni (February 11) or the Nordic walking outings in sa Talaia (January 14) and Santa Agnès (February 11).
Traditional events
Among the usual events of the festivities is also the night walk ‘Anem de lluna i mirem-nos sa flor’ (January 26), the XVII edition of the Sant Antoni Rural in the Agricultural Cooperative of Sant Antoni (January 28), the XX deep cleaning of the bay of Portmany and the cycling tour of es Porquet (February 4), the Carnival street (February 13), the V Fira del Disc d’Ibiza (17 and 18 February) or the Musical Paella by the Association musico-cultural Retro (February 25), with which the program will end.
The program also includes the party for the elderly in Es Clot Marès on January 16 and the tribute lunch for our elders in the restaurant Es Cruce on February 24.
“The program focuses on culture giving importance to our roots,” said the mayor of Fiestas, Miguel Tur, who highlighted consolidated events such as the Super Flower or the World Rice Competition of Matanzas, which this year is presented with the novelty of the junior edition aimed at courses that make study trip. “They are parties designed for young and old and for everyone to come to Sant Antoni to enjoy them and fer poble,” he concluded.
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