After a stopover in Sète, the disassembly time trial begins on the city's quays.

La société sétoise Décibel Event s’est mise au travail dès ce lundi soir. À la criée, Céline et Fabien, alias Pikachu, ont surmonté la déception de la fin du festival pour démonter la scène en 1 h 30 chrono. Midi Libre – Patrice Espinasse

Once the prestigious Escale à Sète sailboats have left, another delicate and essential organization is put in place: dismantling everything and restoring the city to its initial state in just six days.

End clap. After the splendid departure parade, the curtain gradually fell on the 7th edition of stopover in Sète. As the crowd in turn left the singular island, it was a final ballet, less flashy, less noble but essential, which began at the end of the Easter Monday day: tidying up .

The first boxes were packed at 4 p.m., before the scheduled time. Repacking accelerated after 18 hours.

But the tent dismantling operation will only be launched this year on Tuesday, at 7 a.m. It’s then a real time trial that will be launched. "We will have to fit a fortnight's assembly into a six-day dismantling, with as little impact as possible on the city of Sète", summarizes Jean-Denis Rolland , the general manager of Escale in Sète.

"There is no stress but the whole thing is quite sporty to manage"

No easy feat. To achieve this, a team of fifty people employed as subcontractors will be active starting this Tuesday morning. Around ten volunteers will also be on hand to clean the site.

The priority will be to dismantle all the stands located on Quai de la République, Quai Samary and Quai d’Alger, up to the corner of Rue de la Savonnerie, to make these axes accessible to vehicles. "We will have to do it between Tuesday and Wednesday morning. This is a challenge because the configuration and direction of the platforms have changed. And it is less secure. In fact, with each edition, we have to adapt. There is no stress but the whole thing is quite sporty to manage", confides Jean-Denis Rolland.

Quai d'Algiers, the time to “fold back” has come at the National Navy stand. But we keep smiling. Free Midi – Patrice Espinasse

Early dismantling at the auction

It will thus be necessary to activate the departures of certain delegations: first the Italians and the Croats on Tuesday, then the Catalans and the Corsicans on Wednesday.

In total, there are some 4,500,m2 of exhibition spaces that will have to be dismantled by next Sunday! During the week, dozens of semi-trailers will leave Sète, filled with tents, stages, sound system, security tools…

At the auction, dismantling was to begin this Monday, at 6 p.m., "to make it available Tuesday morning". But the festival-goers didn't want to leave the premises! So the Sète company Décibel Event, responsible for removing all the electrical, sound and light equipment from the festival, first took care of the stage.

There is life after Stopover. And in Sète, this life resumes as close as possible to the sea.

The boxes after the party. Not the nicest of times… Free Midi – Patrice Espinasse

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