A bit of a damp squib?

Each year, from the 1st of August, for ten days, Pinoso celebrates its "Fiestas Patronales" - the fiesta in honour of its patron saint.

There are three basic elements to Fiesta: the church based ones: masses and religious processions; the official programme ranging from firework displays, theatre, live music to free paella in the streets and the fair which includes a funfair, market stalls and barracas featuring DJs and modern dance music.

Normally the streets of Pinoso are awash with people out for a good time. We went along for the opening ceremony last night and we were surprised how few people there were outside the Town Hall to listen, we thought the streets were decorated a little more sparsely than usual too. We went on to the stalls where lots of the stall holders looked bored, they were so quiet. For the firework display we were as far forward as anyone could get and there was nobody within 3 metres of us so thin on the ground was the crowd and in the Municipal Gardens we were able to get a chair easily to watch the dancers. We didn't even have a any problem getting a beer.

Maybe it's the financial crisis, maybe people are getting too sophisticated for the local fiesta or maybe it's just my perception of the crowds.

P.S. We were back on Saturday night to see a singer called Soraya (tight frock and songs from the 80s) and there were lots more people out and about.