Barcelona gears up for Sants neighborhood festivities amid Covid-19 fears

Barcelona's Sants 'festa major' neighborhood festivities are back.

A year after the celebration fell victim to a string of pandemic-related summer event cancellations, residents will once again be able to enjoy street decorations, concerts, and other activities⁠—in a toned-down and Covid-19 restriction-friendly format⁠—from August 24 to 28.

Despite city council and Catalan government fears, organizers are confident that the large police-dispersed gatherings in the Catalan capital's Gràcia neighborhood, which hosted its own festivities a week earlier, will not be replicated in Sants.

"We've never had big crowds in Sants," says Pol Bridgewater, the deputy chair of the Federació de carrers de la Festa Major de Sants, one of the groups behind the event. According to him, this has been the case every year, unlike in Gràcia where a few thousand revelers were recently kicked out by the police.

And although there is no longer a curfew in place in Barcelona, activities were planned under the assumption it would still be in place, meaning this year's official 'festa major' events will not go on late into the night.

Covid-19 in Catalonia 

As of August 22, 2021, there have been 952,538 confirmed Covid-19 cases in Catalonia since the beginning of the pandemic and 23,242 deaths. There are currently 1,411 hospitalized coronavirus patients, of which 461 require ICU care. 

Although the 7-day incidence rate per 100,000 inhabitants has decreased over the past few days, at 122.57 it still remains higher than desired.