24/09/2004 00:00
TW
0
Weekly feature THE wine harvest festival in Binissalem reaches its climax this weekend, which is packed with events. The three-day harvest fair, a relatively new addition to festivities, opens today at 6pm in Carrer Creu, and will also be open from 10am tomorrow and on Sunday.


The town council has called on residents to invite friends and relatives to an open air supper tonight. The idea is that families will set out chairs and tables in the streets and dine outdoors instead of inside, so they are hoping the weather will remain fine.

They have been asked to decorate the streets with potted plants and drape flags or banners over the balconies. In return, providing they signed up in advance, the streets will be closed to traffic and free wine will be provided.

One of the major events this weekend will be a parade of floats, which will start at 5pm tomorrow, Saturday.
The floats depict scenes connected with harvesting the grapes and making wine and there will be prizes for the best ones.
Another new event, appearing on the programme for the first time, is the first Binissalem-Majorca Denomination of Origin Wine Fair. This is destined to become the most popular event of the weekend, as ten wine cellars will be providing free wine.

The fair will be open from 7.30 to 10pm tomorrow, and 10am to 2pm and 4 to 8pm on Sunday.
And don't forget, Binissalem is on the Palma-Inca train route, so drivers can leave their cars behind and enjoy the wine, too.
In the evening, there will be a verbena or open-air dance in the church square, with music provided by Tomeu Penya, Géminis, the Orquesta Alabama and Llorenç Santamaria.

Sunday is also a big day, starting off with a religious service at 10.30am, followed at 11.30am by various acts which will take place on the church steps, including a competition to find the biggest bunch of grapes and the treading of grapes to offer the first pressing to the Virgin.

There will be Majorcan music and dancing while these activities are taking place.
At 5pm, there will be a demonstration of “human towers.” This is a Catalan activity which is becoming increasingly more popular here, to the extent that there are now two or three groups which practice it and can regularly be seen at fairs all over the island.

At 7pm, there will be a demonstration of how to clean one of the old wooden casks in which wine is stored, and half an hour later, there will be Majorcan dancing.

All the folk groups from Majorca have been invited to take part, and a huge audience is ensured by the offer of free wine.