Festive atmosphere in the bodegas of the Alès feria

Venus en nombre, les jeunes ont été le cœur de la fête. MIDI LIBRE – Stéphane BARBIER

Dès la tombée de la nuit, la féria se transforme en immense boîte de nuit pour les plus jeunes.

From 9 p.m., for this first evening of the feria which started this Wednesday, May 8, Boulevard Louis-Blanc is packed with people. The bodega DJs are starting to mix a few hits from the 2000s, encouraging the most determined to hit the slopes. Between the groups of young people who came to enjoy an aperitif – long lasting – and the families who have come to attend the pégoulade and the concert, it is a slow and dense crowd which fills the streets.

"We see faces we haven't seen for a long time!"

"No problem, so as not to get tired of pushing through the crowd, we stop at all the bars !" lances Margaux. This high school girl came, like every year, to do the fair with friends. "Here, we don't have the restrictions of a nightclub, we move, and we see faces that we haven't seen in a long time!"

Until one o'clock in the morning, the beer taps and spirits will flow freely, a different bawdy song will start every meter. And the further you go on Boulevard Louis-Blanc, towards Place Henri-Barbusse, the more the party gets into full swing. The traditional white and blue colors of the feria are apparent. Kisses blow. The glasses are toasted. "You hear the noise ? That's it, the real party! That's good!", says one of the customers of a bodega, giraffe in hand. The fair is officially launched.