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Blanes Fireworks Competition 2019
April 9, 2019 Fireworks Competition
The 2019 edition of the Blanes Fireworks Competition will take place from Tuesday, July 23, 2019 through Saturday, July 27, 2019.
This will mark the 49th edition of the Concurs Internacional De Focs D'Artifici De La Costa Brava.
As always, the event will take place during the Festa Major de Santa Anna — the 8-day celebration in honor of Santa Anna, the patron saint of Blanes.
Historically this feast always includes the last full week of the month of July.
The exact dates for the Festa Major tend to be announced in March or May. This makes it somewhat difficult to plan ahead. However, most people who want to make sure they can experience the entire fireworks festival make sure they book their vacation to include the last two weeks of July.
This is a hugely popular event, during the height of the high tourist season. This makes it essential that you book your hotel, B&B, or guest home as soon as possible.
Poster for the Blanes Fireworks Competition 2018 — the 48th edition of the Concurs Internacional De Focs D'Artifici De La Costa Brava
The Festa Major always culminates on July 28 with the Aplec de l'Amor (Feast of Love), at the secluded beach of Sant Francesc, known as Cala Bona. 1
Rules and guidelines for this year's competition have been be made available to national and foreign pyrotechnics companies. Each of the five companies selected will receive €19.000 in order to prepare their shows.
Tuesday, July 23, 2019: Fuegos Articificales Hermanos Ferrández, Spain (winner: 2016, 2017, 2018)
Wednesday, July 24, 2019: Pirotechnica Poleggi, Italy
Thursday, July 25, 2019: Pirotechnica Valenciana, Spain
Friday, July 26, 2019: Pirotechnica Temexson, Romania
Saturday, July 27, 2019: Pirotechnica Zaragozana, Spain
Winner of the 2018 Fireworks Competion
For the third year in a row, the competition was won by Fuegos Articificales Hermanos Ferrández, Murcia, Spain. The company also won the 2011 contest.
Here is their price-winning show:
Below is information about the 2017 edition, which concluded on July 26, 2017.
Further down you will details about the festival's history, its current format, and the rules of the contest.
Blanes Fireworks Competition 2017 — Winning Entry
For the second year in a row the Blanes Fireworks Competition has been won by Pirotecnia Hermanos Ferrández, from Murcia
Their display lit up the skies on Monday night, to the delight of the crowd:
On Saturday night Pirotècnia Vulcano started off this year's competition — and they set the bar high:
Vulcano won second price.
The 47th edition of the International Costa Brava Fireworks Contest will take place from Saturday, July 22 through Wednesday, July 26, 2017.
The fireworks festival — known locally as El Focs de Blanes or Concurs Internacional de Focs — always takes place during the Festa Major de Santa Ana de Blanes.
This feast in honor of Blanes' patron saint lasts 8 days and always always takes place in the last full week of July.
Fireworks show on Sa Palomera, the rocky promontory in Blanes that marks the beginning of the Costa Brava
Competitors 'El Concurso Internacional de Fuegos Artificiales de la Costa Brava 2017'
This year 16 pyrotechnics companies applied to take part in the prestigious competition — 12 from Spain and 4 from abroad.
As always, the winner of last year's competition — in this case Pirotecnia Hermanos Ferrández — is guaranteed a place in the current year's festival.
Let's be brutally honest. There have been plenty of fireworks presentations at the Blanes festival that were, to put it kindly, not all that special.
But then there are also plenty of shows that make it totally worth it to be there in person.
Take a look at the spectacular winning entry from last year's competition, by the pyrotechnics firm of the Brothers Ferrández:
And here's how Accitana Ma Angustias easily won first place in 2015:
5 nights of firework displays
In 2016 the fireworks competition returned to its original run of 5 days.
From 2012 through 2015 the festival lasted just four days — as a result of Spain's financial crisis and its aftermath.
Dropping a day saved Blanes a lot of money normally spent on crowd control, safety measures and other police duties.
Last year the event attracted enough sponsors to enable the city to bring back the fifth night.
Record Crowds
This high season event — the Festa Major plus the fireworks festival — always sees record crowds.
In 2016, some 100.000 people — more than twice the town's population of 44.000 — watched the fireworks display on the opening night.
Saturday night — traditionally the busiest day of the event — saw a record crowd of 250.000 spectators.
If you'd like to spend the entire week in Blanes, make sure you book your hotel early.
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The fireworks show starts at 22:30 (10:30 pm), and prime watching spots start filling up about an hour before the spectacle.
If you attend the festival from outside Blanes, do not come by car unless you're prepared to park far away.
The fireworks show centers around Sa Palomera, the rocky promontory ('the rock' to most tourists) that separates the old town center of Blanes from the newer part (El Pins, where most of the town's hotels and camp grounds are located).
Just about anywhere you plan to watch will be crowded — super crowded. And yes, plenty of people have the same ideas you've got: to watch from spots on the hill of St. Juan, for instance.
However, you will be able to see the fireworks from anywhere along the coast. The tourist ferries usually have special deals available, in which you can view the fireworks from a boat — one of the best places to watch.
Keep an eye out for posters or fliers announcing such opportunities, often written only in Catalan and/or Spanish.
Other great spots: along S'Abanell beach. The closer you get to the camp grounds, the lighter the crowd.
Of course, if you prefer to be shoulder to shoulder, head on over to Platja de Blanes. That's thee beach along the boulevard in the old part of town. It tends to fill up quickly.
A crowd gathers on Platja de Blanes, about an hour before the start of the fireworks show. There's a fair on the boulevard. And note that the surf this day was a bit wilder than usual.
The raised 'jetty' walkway north of Platja de Blanes (between the yachting harbor and the beach) is great place that provides you with a direct view of the show.
Rules and Penalties
The companies have to agree to a detailed set of requirements, including details covering the type of fireworks to be used, the length of the show, and safety measures to be observed.
Setting up the fireworks is an all-day project. The rock, Sa Palomera in Blanes, marks the start of the Costa Brava
The conditions call for the displays to be both aerial and aquatic. That means each show must include rockets and other fireworks shooting upwards and outwards, as well as fireworks that make use of the water surrounding the rock.
The idea is that the show must highlight the natural setting of Sa Palomera.
Oh, and participating companies must certify that any and all products used in their displays are completely biodegradable.
The company that opens the series of shows must prepare an illuminated, 8 meter wide and 1.5 meter high sign with the inscription: "Glòria a Santa Anna."
Each company must also display a similar sign that reads "Blanes 2017."
Participating companies agree to make sure their shows last a minimum of 20 minutes and a maximum of 24 minutes, and that the fireworks are launched uninterruptedly with absolute continuity between the luminous effect of one launch and the one immediately following. (Yes, this makes for a truly awesome sight).
If a company fails to appear on the day of the contest, the City can impose a maximum fine of € 40,000. There are also various penalties for displays that are too short, or displays that start as little as a fraction of 1 minute too late.
The Judging
The shows are judged by both a technical- and a popular jury.
The technical jury looks at such things as the type and variety of products used, the quality of the launches, and whether all of the firework products match the specifications set out in the contract.
The popular jury — which consist of up to 40 residents of Blanes — evaluates the offerings on color, rhythm, difficulty, originality, water fireworks, the effective use of the setting and the general artistic effect of the display.
In case of a tie, the opinion of the technical committee prevails.
The oldest reference to fireworks shows in Blanes dates back to 1891, but it is not clear when it became a yearly tradition.
What is known is that the event stopped when the Civil War broke out in 1936. It started up again in 1944, and in in 1970 the event became a yearly competition that was meant as a way to promote tourism in Blanes.
At first the competition lasted three days. In the mid eighties it was expanded to four days, and from 1996 it lasted five days.
As a cost-saving measure brought on by Spain's financial crisis, from 2012 through 2015 the event covered only four days.
The year 2016 marked a return to the full, five-day festival.
The official website for El Focs de Blanes is in Catalan and Spanish only.
The fireworks photo featured on our front page was taken by Gerard Romans Camp, who has graciously made it available under the Creative Commons (CC BY 2.0) license. View his other fireworks photos.
The Feast of Love tradition hails back to 1906. At the time the hills surrounding the beach of Sant Francesc were still covered by vineyards instead of the multi-million homes you see today. Citizens of Blanes — young and old, and from all social classes — would arrive at this beach on foot or in their small, wooden boats. It was customary to bring homemade food and goodies. The men would fashion 'tables' out of sand, which were then covered with table cloths. Of course the sardana was danced, with musicians playing on the rocks at the beach. ↩
Thank you for using our Visit Blanes tourist guide. We trust you will have wonderful holidays!
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This post was last updated: Jun. 30, 2019
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In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) 146,000 various branded 1 HP and 3/4 HP garbage disposers manufactured in China by Anaheim Manufacturing Co. and imported by Moen, Inc. have been recalled due to a component inside the disposal can break off and launch from the disposal during use.
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Listed below are the brands and models that were recalled. Model numbers can be found on the side or bottom of the products.
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IU Made Red Velvet's Yeri Cry During The 2017 Melon Music Awards
The nation's singer-songwriter extraordinaire made Red Velvet's Yeri cry in the middle of celebrating this year's achievements in K-Pop.
Yeri was just casually singing along to IU's performance of "Dear Name" at the 2017 Melon Music Awards.
But then, fans caught Yeri wiping away her tears mid-performance.
Yeri was brought to tears when IU began singing with a group of "nameless" singers and musicians who haven't been able to see their spotlight to fame.
The performance included talented chorus members who sing backup for popular musicians, street performers, trainees, and anyone who haven't been able to make a name in the competitive music industry yet.
Through IU's performance, they were given a chance to state their names in front of a global audience and stop being "nameless" even for a moment.
The deep meaning moved Yeri to tears as the rest of the audience all clapped for the nameless performers as well.
As usual, IU has a way of making us feel lovingly sentimental
Check out Yeri's full reaction below.
As well as IU's full "Dear Name" performance!

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Date: September 2, 2016Author: Indu Muralidharan 0 Comments
I rediscovered the joy of television for a while, thanks to a long, lingering spell of viral flu and found myself hooked to two particular serials on YouTube on the weekends.
The first was Upanyas, an old serial that I vaguely remembered from childhood. I was too young to watch it when it was first broadcast on Doordarshan many years ago. Watching it for the first time, I was delighted to find that it had a metafictional premise. A woman vacationing in a hill station meets her favourite novelist who is semi-retired and requests him to resume writing. The episodes then take parallel tracks, one following the author as he proceeds to create his story, and the other depicting the story which mirrors the author's life and the characters around him. The author's own story is far more interesting than the world that he writes into being.
Mohan Vatsal is by no means the perfect author or even a perfect man. There are hints of a shady past linked to his multiple divorces, which comes out when his partner attempts suicide. His condescending attitude towards everyone including his reader and artistic arrogance which comes out through his reflections on the world around him make him a very complex character, though one who is self-assured of his powers of creation. When the reader Yashodhara points out that his novel was less of a plotted story and more a group of incidents loosely connected together, he acknowledges that he had been inspired to write it that way.
The character of the Vatsal's partner Prabhavati is reminiscent of Mohini in Mahesh Elkunchwar's play Party. Both women fall in love with artists on account of their art and later find themselves unwanted, alone, bereft of their identity, perhaps hinting that relationships between authors and readers are best when they stay on either side of the page. A victim of domestic violence, Prabhavati seeks solace from her troubled marriage in Vatsal's books and gets into a relationship with him. Short flashbacks reveal her own artistic temperament with flashes of inspiration that are comparable, even superior to Vatsal's imagination. When he becomes uncomfortable with her creative expressions, she is happy to remain in his shadow, cooking and keeping house for him until he tires of her presence, and she grows frustrated and insecure as their relationship does not have a future. Vatsal admits to himself that Prabhavati's dependence strengthens him as he feeds off her need for him. After an unsuccessful suicide attempt, Prabhavati makes a dignified exit from Vatsal's life. In a poignant scene, she tells the writer that she was leaving for a place where all her needs would be met – food, clothing and most importantly, books to read.
A number of literary references and philosophical reflections are woven into the dialogue. To cite just two examples, Vatsal talks about the joys of intertextuality, his admiration of Tolstoy and how he hopes to write a character like Kino from Steinbeck's The Pearl into one of his novels someday. His character Chalakha writes to her cousin that the ego needs unhappiness to reinforce itself for absolute joy dissolves the sense of the self, which seems to reflect this quote by Greene:
"The sense of unhappiness is so much easier to convey than that of happiness. In misery we seem aware of our own existence, even though it may be in the form of a monstrous egotism: this pain of mine is individual, this nerve that winces belongs to me and to no other. But happiness annihilates us: we lose our identity."
Graham Greene, The End of the Affair
The serial is set in a period when time was richer: when people took pleasure in unhurried walks, wrote long letters by hand to each other, and had endless leisurely conversations about life and art.
Just as I thought that it was a pity that no one makes such fine programs anymore, a cousin sent me a link to a relatively recent serial called Upanishad Ganga, a 52 part series which presented the wisdom of the Upanishads in one hour long fictionalised episodes.
I was not surprised to discover that the program had been broadcast by Doordarshan, which remains the gold standard for quality television content in the minds of millions of Indian viewers. Dramatizing stories from the Upanishads which are considered to be the essence of Indian philosophy in the form of short capsules is a huge challenge and the producers have been successful in their vision. The concepts, the settings, the costumes, the actors and above all, the screenplay blend together beautifully. Employing the structure of stories within a story, the series is portrayed as stage dramas presented by a group of artists who question the relevance of Sanskrit and the scriptures in present times. The episodes raise profound philosophical questions, suggest possible answers and leave the watching seeker both enriched and inspired.
If you like literary fiction, you will love The Reengineers:
DoordarshanMetafictionPhilosophyTelevisionUpanishadsZen Moments
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ST ALBANS, ST JOHN'S AND MICHAEL MOUNT CROWNED CHAMPIONS ON FINAL'S DAY
St Alban's College is the U/19 champion of the 2021 St John's College Basketball Tournament, proudly sponsored by Standard Bank and brought to you by Supersport Schools in association with Puma and Shesha Hoops Lounge. St John's College claimed the U/15 crown with Michael Mount Waldorf School winning the U13 category.
The final day of the tournament comprised the knockout rounds of the competition, with the U/15 and U/19 ages groups immediately starting their day with their semi final fixtures.
The 3rd and 4th place playoffs were played with Soweto Academy winning bronze in both the U/13 and U/19 age groups, whilst the Mangaung Knights secured bronze in the U15 age group with their close 29-26 win over the Soweto Academy. The U/13s continued with the last of their pool games which saw Michael Mount Waldorf School and St John's Prep set up their date in the final.
The semi finals began with the U/15 age group. St John's College managed an emphatic 40-29 win over Soweto Academy in the first semifinal as St Stithians secured a late victory of 24-22 over the Mangaung Knights. This was an exciting match up that went right down to the wire with Saints claiming their place in the final during overtime. The final was then set with a meet up of traditional rivals St John's and St Stithians.
In the U/19 section, the matchup of the semifinals was an exciting game between St Charles and St Alban's that was thrilling right to the last second. In the end, it was a single point that separated the two sides, with St Alban's winning 20-19. The second semifinal was also great to watch with St John's taking control to secure the win against Soweto Academy with a score of 41-33 to set up a final meeting with St Alban's.
The finals began with the U/15s, which saw St John's reigning supreme with a 42-39 win over St Stithians. The U/13 final followed, with the well-disciplined Michael Mount Waldorf School emerging as the victors over St John's Preparatory with a final 38-20 score.
The U19 final saw the players welcomed onto the courts to the smooth sounds of the Parktown Boys' High School Brass Band. They entertained throughout the game, providing an atmosphere for the players under the non-spectator circumstances.
The game tipped off between St John's and St Albans with the hosts dominating the opening exchanges on the scoreboard. St Alban's took their time to really get going, but when they eventually did, St John's found it difficult to cope. St Alban's consciously remained in the game, even through the difficult periods, eventually claiming the 2021 tournament title. St Alban's were victorious over St John's with a final score of 38-23.
It was an incredible fixture and St Albans proved deserving winners having shown their intent from the beginning and going about their business with quiet efficiency.
The St John's College Basketball Tournament was a successful one despite the stringent COVID-19 restrictions.
Credit must go out to St John's College's Master in charge of Basketball, Mrs Ngoza Phiri-Mazarura, who played a big part in the organisation and success of the basketball tournament. It is also with sadness that the St John's College community will be bidding farewell to Ngoza at the end of the year, meaning this was her last basketball tournament being a part of the St John's College community.
A big thank you to our partners Standard Bank, Supersport Schools along with Puma and Shesha Hoops Lounge who helped make this possible.
MVP and All Star teams list:
U13 Category
Most Valued Player: Luca Amerseder, Michael Mount Waldorf School
All-Stars: Ama Ntsubane, St John's Preparatory; Shalako Mda, Michael Mount Waldorf School; Siyabonga Mashaba, Phoenix Basketball Club; and Sizwe Ngwenya, Soweto Academy.
Most Valued Player: Nathan Tswatswa, St John's College
All-Stars: Nathi Maseko, St John's College; Galaletsang Masite, Mangaung Knights; Ayanda Sekale, Soweto Academy; and Sima Bobo, St Stithians College.
Most Valued Player: Thabo Masilela, St Alban's College
All-Stars: Francois Van Rensburg, St Alban's College; Takudzwanashe Sithole, St John's College; James Laynes, St Charles College; and Nkosinathi Masina, Soweto Academy.
U/13 Michael Mount Waldorf School 50-18 Phoenix Basketball Club
U/13 St John's Prep 32-29 Soweto Academy
U/15 Semifinal: St Stithians College 24-22 Mangaung Knights
U/13 Soweto Academy 24-22 Phoenix Basketball Club
U/15 Semifinal: St John's College 40-29 Soweto Academy
U/19 Semifinal: St Albans College 20-19 St Charles College
U/19 3rd/4th playoff: Soweto Academy 39-33 St Charles College
U/15 Final: St John's College 42-39 St Stithians College
U/13 Final: St John's Prep 20-38 Michael Mount Waldorf School
U/19 Final: St John's College 23-38 St Albans College
Awards Presentation


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Curled over and rolled up, warm words under blankets on November nights. What we whisper doesn't matter, language lost in the space around our necks. Sweet Nothings but a rustle and a breath, understanding all that's left.