“For local traders, it’s a 13th or even a 14th month”, rejoices on franceinfo Christian Troadec, mayor of Carhaix, as the Vieilles Charrues festival begins on Thursday.
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“For the city of Carhaix, this is an exceptional moment”, recognizes Thursday July 13 on franceinfo Christian Troadec, mayor of Carhaix and co-founder of the Breton festival of Vieilles Charues which begins this Thursday in Finistère and which must last until Monday. It is the busiest festival in France, with nearly 280,000 festival-goers expected.
Are you still happy to host this festival?
Christian Troadec: For the city of Carhaix, this is an exceptional moment. It puts a huge spotlight on the whole country of Carhaix. It allows a Breton audience and elsewhere to have exceptional concerts and at the same time there are extremely significant economic benefits for the whole territory. It’s a somewhat magical time of year for the town of Carhaix.
What are the repercussions of this festival for Carhaix?
We must not forget that in the first place it is a cultural festival which is there to spread culture and ensure that artists are accessible to all. It saves us, us in Brittany, from going to big cities, big towns, metropolises to access certain types of concerts. For local traders, all catering trades in particular, cafes and restaurants… It’s a 13th or even a 14th month. This brings in extremely significant financial subsidies.
How to ensure that the Vieilles Charrues festival continues and that the public finds itself there?
In Carhaix, the particularity is that we have set up a rather exceptional site: the “Breizh Park”, the Brittany event park, with 120 hectares of land belonging to the community. We have year-round infrastructure that also allows us to amortize the costs, to have long-term investments. There is also the partnership of the Brittany region which is essential. It is not only a year-round site, but there are also year-round events (book festival, for example) because in addition to the high point – which is the Vieilles Charrues festival – we have a second festival which settles this year on the commune, the third weekend of August and which is called the “Motocultor”, based on hard rock and metal music. Carhaix therefore plays a bit of a role as the capital of festivals now. It ranges from a few hundred visitors to hundreds of thousands and all that contributes to a local dynamic for a small town of 8,000 inhabitants.