Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 6 February, 2020.— Once upon a time... A Carnival with the magic of a fairy tale: a unique fable that pans out in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, which the locals experience to the full and which is a particular attraction for travellers visiting the city. In 2020 this Carnival has many years of experience behind it, with an extensive programme open to all, and it has established a vocation to break rules and have fun as its standard.

This year this fiesta is a tale which builds up around Santa Catalina Park, the place where all the main acts are held, with a stage which has been built for that very objective. But it actually begins in Vegueta (7 February, with the official opening speech at 21.00 hrs), the original birthplace of a city which is now the main hub of the mid Atlantic: a compulsory connection when crossing between Europe, Africa and America. This is why Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is an open, cosmopolitan and multicultural city. And this is why its Carnival is a reflection of all of that. And that’s going to be the case again until 1 March.

The traveller can enjoy this fiesta throughout a programme which gives a leading role in its first week to the murgas and the comparsas (satirical performances and street bands) after choosing its Grand Dame (9 February, at 20.00 hrs, in Santa Catalina): the first member of a court where there is room for both sexes, young, adult and elderly. Carnival is for everyone in this story.

That first week of the celebrations also boasts the fancy-dress competition (pure Carnival, Thursday 13 at 21.00 hrs). And the junior crown will be chosen (Junior Gala, Sunday 16, 18.30 hrs). All these events, such as the murgas and comparsas competitions, on these dates, are free entry and open to the public.

The exception is the murgas final on 15 February (20.00 hrs). It's also important to keep a close eye on the dates when the organisers announce the sale of tickets for the Queen Gala, the Drag Queen Shortlisting and the Drag Queen Gala. These acts fill up the big weekend of the fiesta, between 21 and 25 February, and although the prices are very reasonable, tickets (at the ticket office and over the internet) are in high demand: tickets sell out in hours.

Meanwhile, another unmissable feature on the programme are the Carnival gatherings in the street, which are also daytime events: in Vegueta (15 February), Santa Catalina (25) and Las Canteras (22). As well as the grand cavalcade (29). It's here that costume turns into the real king of the tale of Carnival.

The Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival, designated a Fiesta of National Tourist Interest, becomes the epicentre of activity for almost a whole month for a city with a different way of living through the winter. People living here are passionate about the event, and it works its charms on visitors who can take advantage of the dates to join the celebrations in the street, and who also attend the great galas in the programme. The Carnival Queen Gala or the famous Drag Queen Gala, followed worldwide, are the identifying features of a fiesta, which, all the same, also sets aside plenty of space in the programme for family events. Indeed, the little ones have a whole calendar of entertainment over these days in the Gran Canaria capital, immersed in its own Carnival culture.

The 2019 festivities, themed around A Night in Rio, in tribute to the Rio de Janeiro carnival celebrations, as a symbol of openness, freedom and integration. And, like every previous year, the schedule planned by the organisers offers a great range of things to do for younger carnival-goers. On the one hand, there are acts which are specifically designed for children. And on the other, there are different events suitable for people of all ages, which can be experienced in the city as a family. This is another characteristic feature of this Carnival which is unique, contemporary and belongs to a city which is not only transformed by Carnival but also transforms itself for Carnival. In this case, from February 15th until March 10th 2019.

The first weekend with children at centre stage

On the first day, when the opening proclamation takes place in Plaza de Santa Ana, right in the historic centre, families can get an advance taste of the festivities with a musical parade proclaiming the start of Carnival, as it passes through the city's oldest streets. This is only an appetiser for everything that will take place later around the Parque Santa Catalina, where each year a stage is built (designed according to the allegory that the citizens choose each year as the theme for the Carnival): this is where all the great spectacles of the festivities take place.

The first, Saturday February 16th, with the junior comparsas - stage shows - contest (19:00 hrs), where visitors can see for themselves how the Carnival's youngest talents experience the festivities. On the following day, from 11:00 hrs onwards, Santa Catalina brings together a multitude of junior groups as they celebrate their own fancy dress festival. Their families cheer them on from the audience... as do a good crowd of tourists who pass by the stage on their visits to the city: guests at its hotels and apartments, day-trippers from the south of the island... or people on the cruises that have put in at the nearby Santa Catalina Dock, and who are becoming regulars at these events in the park.

Daytime and Pet Carnival

The first full week of the programme is devoted to the murgas and comparsas competitions, although on the Saturday and Sunday, families travelling to the city have other opportunities to join the celebrations. Among these is the Vegueta Daytime Carnival; it's a good idea to go early if you're with children, before the multitudinous crowd takes over the streets again. This is the programme for Saturday February 23rd: the first of the daytime fiestas that fill so much of the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival Schedule, which repeats these celebrations in the sunlight on two Sundays, February 24th and March 3rd, and on Carnival Tuesday (March 5th) in Santa Catalina Park, and on Saturday March 2nd in and around Triana's Calle Mayor, in the historic heart of the city once again.

Sunday February 24th is also a chance for the little ones to get to know the Dog Carnival (12:00 noon). The pets in their costumes, together with their owners, gather at Santa Catalina to compete on stage in a unique competition, followed from the stands with the same spirit. What a gathering of Carnival dogs, showing off their costumes in this singular social happening.

The kids' throne

On that same Sunday, 24th, the Parque Santa Catalina is taken over by the candidates for Junior Queen or King (19:00 hrs). A competition with very young contenders for the junior crown of the Carnival. It is no insignificant matter: many of the designers who compete in the big gala with their spectacular designs are also the designers behind the kids' costumes. This gala is closely followed by the families, and reveals to the visitor the importance in the fiesta of the Queen's dresses.

A Tuesday for the little ones

On Carnival Tuesday, March 5th, the Gran Canaria capital's Carnival schedule dedicates a great day to kids. It's the day of the Junior Parade, which leaves from Castillo de La Luz at 17:00 hrs, and ends in Santa Catalina. It's the festivities' great junior procession, where groups with the youngest Carnival participants take part, alongside floats and a multitude of families in fancy dress. The parade ends with a great children's party in the Parque Santa Catalina, with musical performances. Without a doubt, a great opportunity for the little ones to understand the importance of the Carnival and to join in the fun of the great fancy dress party.

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A popular celebration, a costume party, and a date with the grandest shows. Every year, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival celebrates its galas on an iconic stage risen for the occasion in Santa Catalina Park – heart of the city bordered by the Port of La Luz and Las Palmas, and Las Canteras Beach. This 2019, the Gran Canarian capital pays tribute to Brazil’s notorious festivities with its theme, ‘A Night in Rio’, and Santa Catalina becomes the melting pot where these two cities fuse into the set for its most emblematic contests.

Little over two weeks in, the city has already chosen its Carnival Queen, Erika Echuaca Sebe, who was crowned for her ensemble under the fantasy Volar sin Alas (Flying without wings). The elegant candidate, a second-generation immigrant, will represent Las Palmas de Gran Canaria at tourist promotion events overseas along with Pedro Bethencourt Guerra –also known as Drag Chuchi–, the winner of the world-renowned Drag Queen Gala who over the last few years (included 2019) has been a global trending topic on Twitter and in the limelight for fans worldwide thanks to social media and television. It’s no mystery why tickets get sold out so quickly.

Chuchi took the stage with her show Repite mi nombre (Repeat my name), which ultimately gave her the winning sceptre and the right to participate in the Grand Parade that the city celebrates on March 9th. Everyone will be there; even the Carnival Queen and another royal figure that is a living representation of the importance of these festivities in the Gran Canarian capital.

We’re talking about Luisa Lozano, the Grand Dame of the A Night in Rio Carnival, dressed in Stampa do Brasil, a design fit for the 2019 Carnival. The Junior Queen, Náyade Pérez Castro, with her Mexican-themed fantasy, Serenata para usted, cosita linda (A Serenade for You, pretty thing), led the mass Junior Parade on March 5th, Carnival Tuesday. Both junior and veteran are also part of the Carnival’s great hall of fame.

These reigns are a celebration of all the people that participate intensely in Carnival: designers, sponsors, and contestants who have been working all year for the throne. Although, we shouldn’t forget another key figure in Carnival: all the people showing off their best costumes in Santa Catalina.

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 6 February, 2020.— The Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Carnival has been the centre of attention on the global map for years: immediately identifiable features such as the striking Drag Queens or the sumptuous dresses worn by the contenders for Carnival Queen are often associated with all the fun offered in the street programme. However, the schedule also has space set aside for the little ones and the family audience. And it's no small space: in 2020, Once upon a Time at Carnival once again has parties, competitions and parades specially designed for children. Those children are the grass roots which Carnival will grow from, although all of these fixtures give an enthusiastic welcome to visitors in the city over these dates.

As well as this, in this year, the theme chosen as the setting for Carnival could not be more suitable for children: the world of stories and fairy tales. Little Red Riding Hood, Pinocchio, Hansel and Gretel, the Sleeping Beauty, Jack and the Beanstalk... The universe to choose a costume from is practically limitless if what you want is to enjoy the celebrations as a family, and in line with Carnival fashion for 2020. There are plenty of establishments for those passing through if they want, with costumes and complements on sale, in the big shopping centres in the Gran Canaria capital, or in the open air shopping areas like Triana or Mesa y López.

Children's schedule

Have we got a costume already? In that case, it's time to take a look at the programme, and to choose the moments when we want to enjoy the children's Carnival in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The celebrations start on 7 February, with the Official Opening in Santa Ana Square, right in the heart of the historic centre of the city, preceded by a Carnival Parade which is a good first point of contact (20.30 hrs, in the area around the Cathedral).

The competitions for the youngest audience start on Saturday, 8 February, on the huge Santa Catalina stage (a magic place where the stories will unfold). The children's street bands make their debut there (19.00 hrs) and a large number of groups of children in fancy dress will show themselves off on Sunday, 9 February, at 11.00 hrs, in a massive family encounter. As is the case for all the children's Carnival events, access to the enclosure is free.

The Children's Gala is scheduled at 18.30 hrs on Sunday, 16 February, and boys and girls can compete with their striking outfits for the festivities' little crown. The same day on which the Dog's Carnival takes place at 12.00 hrs, another favourite with families.

Big weekend

This is a taster for the big weekend of the celebrations, stretching from Friday 21 to Tuesday 25 February (Carnival Tuesday). Over that long weekend, the Family Carnival is scheduled in Triana (22 Saturday, 12.00 hrs, once again in the historic city centre), the children's murgas encounter (on Sunday 23 in Santa Catalina, at 11.00 hrs) and the children's Cavalcade, a great event for the youngest audience, in a grand parade of costumes, groups and floats which leaves from León y Castillo Street, the city's main street, heading for Santa Catalina Park, to round off the party in great style (also on Sunday 23, from 17.00 hrs onwards).

Although there's nothing to say that families can't go to the Carnaval al Sol (Sun Carnival) at Las Canteras Beach on Saturday 22, a unique party parade alongside the beach, (starting at 17.00 hrs) or experience the Daytime Carnival at Santa Catalina right in the middle of the holiday Tuesday (12.00 hrs).

The end of the fiesta

The Once upon a time Carnival ends on Saturday 29 February, with a grand cavalcade which the youngest children can watch in its early stages, although later the celebrations turn into something more suitable for the grown-ups. And on 1 March, with the traditional Sardine's Funeral, where the widows weep over the death of Carnival (Don Carnal), and which also leaves from León y Castillo Street at 19.00 hrs, heading out to Las Canteras Beach, where the fantasy fish is set fire to, and the fireworks dazzle on the beach.

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 4 February, 2020.— The newly redeveloped Avenida Mesa y López in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria was the scene on Saturday 1 February of an advance taste of Once upon a time at Carnival, which is what the city's 2020 massive fiesta is called. 64 contenders for crowns in the carnival celebrations paraded in front of 3,000 people at the presentation and the draw to find out the order in which they will take part in the different galas to be held in the Santa Catalina Park. This was an exciting taste of things to come in a Carnival which will have its official opening on 7 February, with the reading of the Opening Speech in Santa Ana Square (21.00 hrs).

Dressed up for the occasion, the 14 contenders for Carnival Queen were a fine sight on the red carpet: their gala will be held on 21 February; likewise the 11 contenders for the junior throne (which will be decided on 16 February) and ten contenders for Grand Dame (gala programmed for 9 February). As well as the 29 Drag Queens who will compete in the Shortlisting on 22 February. The audience cheered each one of the contenders, who paraded on their platforms to find out when they had been drawn: big and small, because in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the drag queens are real icons of a completely inclusive Carnival.

Contenders of both sexes were applauded with real excitement in this act which took place out in the street, a sign that the audience is all set for a celebration which is dedicated this year to the world of tales and fables. All this was in front of the 2019 Queens and the Drag Queen, who were not going to miss the occasion. Once upon a time...at a Carnival full of princes and princesses seeking their crowns.

Take note, because the Carnival has already started, and the week which begins today, Monday, 3 February, will offer us, as well as the Opening Speech, the junior street band competition, a profusion of rhythm, glitter and colour to demonstrate that the grass roots of the Carnival is alive and well (Saturday 8, 19.00 hrs); the festival of junior costumes, a family show where thousands of children in fancy dress take over the enclosure and applaud the competitors (Sunday 9, 11.00 hrs) and the Grand Dame Gala, the act which brings the first ruler of the fiestas to her throne, the queen of the senior citizens (Sunday 9, 20.00 hrs). All the acts are accompanied by live music.