Feria de Abril is back...as Feria de Mayo

COLLECTIVE lamentations resounded all the way from Andalucía's largest city the day before Christmas Eve 2020 – Sevilla's Feria de Abril, or 'April Fair', was to be called off for a second year on the trot.

As well as missing out on a week's worth of partying, residents in the southern metropolis would also forfeit millions of euros pouring into their public coffers, and enough in hundreds or thousands to keep their own families fed for most of the year – the Feria de Abril is one of Sevilla's most lucrative fiestas, attracts weeks' worth of international visitors every day, and stallholders make a sizeable chunk of their annual income during this bustling, colourful festival.

After the pandemic put paid to the 2020 edition – along with every other fiesta and public event nationwide – hopes were pinned on 2021 as being the year that Sevilla could put it all behind them and get back on the streets for its favourite mega-fête.

But Covid contagion remained rife, and the city council announced two days before Christmas that the eagerly-awaited comeback would not be happening after all.

Finally, three years after the last Feria de Abril, the cheery psychedelic celebrations will be going ahead again – although not, as the name suggests, in April.

Instead of a 'April Fair', the 2022 version will be a 'May Fair' – and it works out well for those who want to enjoy it to the maximum, since it coincides with a national public holiday.

Mayday, or May 1 – 'Labour Day' – falls on a Sunday this year, but as it is a 'transferable' bank holiday, those regions which will not have used up their maximum number of eight are allowed to move it to the nearest Monday.

Andalucía is one of these regions, meaning Monday, May 2 is a public holiday and, as Sevilla always has another one for the entire province for its Feria de Abril – whenever it takes place – Wednesday, May 4 will also be a non-working day.

And other towns in the province have specific, local bank holidays during that same week, in honour of their patron saints, meaning their residents will be off work and able to travel to their capital to join in the fun.

These include the town of Gelves, where Friday, May 6 is a public holiday, and La Luisiana, which will get three solid days of freedom as it has a bank holiday on Tuesday, May 3.

The 2022 Feria de Abril, or Feria de Mayo in reality, takes place from Sunday, May 1 to Saturday, May 7 inclusive, meaning those from other regions without any public holidays can still cram in a weekend day at the fair.

This is a festival where every stereotype about Spain that remains in circulation outside its borders is very much alive and well, and milked to the limits: Swirly, polka-dot skirts, flamenco and sevillanas music and dance with castañets, foot-tapping and hand-clapping, gypsy guitars, and beautiful Pura Raza Española horses decked out with floral wreaths.

Fairground rides, marquées, over 1,000 stalls in brightly-coloured huts or casetas selling souvenirs and food, open-air concerts, parades, lights and decorations – even private homes adorn their balconies with flowers and polka-dot-patterned accessories – mean the Feria de Abril literally takes over the city for a week, turning it into a giant carnival.

On average, Sevilla earns nearly €1 billion in the space of seven days from the April Fair alone, or about 3% of its GDP, and it's not just the stallholders who make a large slice of their annual income from it.

Florists, hairdressers, costume-makers, shops selling specialist fiesta clothing and accessories, shops in general through passing trade, hotels and holiday apartment owners, the transport industry, musicians, fairground companies, restaurants, food producers and wine merchants, and even dry-cleaners, given that the festival get-up cannot just be flung in the washing machine afterwards, all see their trade shoot up during Feria de Abril week.

Having been an unmissable annual date for the past 175 years, the 2020 and 2021 non-Ferias were the only ones ever to be cancelled in peacetime, and only the second occasion when it was called off for two years on the trot – the first being during the Civil War, when all three Ferias de Abril were axed in 1937, 1938 and 1939.

For those who want to be part of its return this year, Sevilla has an international airport and is also served by regular rail services, including the high-speed inter-regional AVE network.

But last-minute accommodation is nearly impossible to find, so forward planning and early booking is strongly advised.