Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 28 March 2022.- On 20 March, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria said farewell to the galas and contests of the “Planet Earth” Carnival, which put the spotlight, through allegory, on the need to preserve the planet. However, for the first time in the history of the Carnival, the festivities will continue in the summer: as a bonus, the organizers have scheduled several days of celebrations on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of July — a whole weekend. The object is to make up for the fact that it was impossible to hold the street Carnival in the winter, owing the restrictions imposed because of the pandemic, and to recover the popular spirit of the city’s biggest festival.

On Friday 1 July, the public will be able to enjoy a big parade with all the prizewinners of the Planet Earth Carnival: the Queen, the Grande Dame, the Drag Queen, the Junior Queen, and the award-winning murgas, comparsas and Carnival characters. To round off the Friday, a night of concerts is being prepared.

A foretaste of the Great Carnival Cavalcade is planned for Saturday 2 July, a day when, after more than two years, we aim to recover the major event of the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria street Carnival. This is the great parade of carnival-goers and floats which draws together a large crowd every year in the city’s main arteries.

Finally, on the 3rd of July, the Sunday, the traditional Burial of the Sardine has been scheduled. This is the traditional farewell, a very emotional experience for everyone in the Carnival, accompanying the fish until it is burned on Las Canteras beach. A traditional element of this day is the simulated weeping and wailing of numerous widows who can hardly contain their hysterical grief over the end of the celebrations.

After these historic days, the organizers will get on with carefully preparing next year’s festival. In fact, they have already begun to do so by choosing the theme that will serve as the setting for the 2023 Carnival: “Studio 54”. The representatives of the various sectors involved in the festivities have decided on an allegory that will turn all the events in the coming programme into a great disco from the 1970s.