New Year’s Eve

This festival has been celebrated on the first Saturday of August since 1995. It originated from a power outage on New Year's Eve in 1994, during which local residents had to eat their traditional twelve grapes by candlelight.

This was not the first blackout the town had endured, as they had long been plagued by electricity supply issues; however, what distinguished this particular outage was that it occurred on such a significant date, causing substantial financial losses for local shops and businesses. Fed up with the situation, residents held a meeting to discuss the matter. During the meeting, a local business owner jokingly remarked, "We're going to have to celebrate New Year's Eve in August." A journalist attending the meeting challenged them, saying, "You wouldn't dare do it." These words resonated so strongly with the residents that they decided to go ahead with the idea.

Initially, the goal was to protest the electricity supply problems and demand a solution from the utility company. Little did the residents know the impact this celebration would eventually have.

Since then, the festival has become a fixture on the town's calendar. It features all the hallmarks of a traditional winter celebration: nativity scenes set up by residents throughout the town, grapes, champagne, *mantecados* (shortbread cookies), *turrón* (nougat), anise liqueur, artificial snow, a Three Wise Men parade, Christmas carols, and more.

In recent years, the town has also been decorated with elements typical of the holiday season, including street murals, a permanent nativity scene, and other festive ornaments.

In 2020, the "August New Year's Eve" celebration was designated a Festival of Tourist Interest by the Regional Government of Andalusia.