4 days of potato celebration culminate in a giant Spanish omelette in the Cartagena countryside

One of the facets of life in Spain which never ceases to surprise visitors and residents from northern Europe is the number of quirky (and, some might say, surreal) fiestas which take place during the year, and a good example of this is taking place over four days until Sunday 7th June in La Puebla.

La Puebla is an outlying village in Cartagena between the city and the Mar Menor and the annual fiestas are held in June in honour of the Sagrado Corazón de Jesús: However, the events are best known as the Fiestas de la Patata, and have established themselves in the local and regional calendar on the first weekend of June.

Now reaching its 17th edition, El Día de la Patata is a tradition which was started by local farmers keen to make the public aware of the quality of the potatoes they grow, and has quickly become a very popular event indeed. This year, as usual, everyone is invited to Potato Day, where there will be a special potato exhibition, potatoes on sale direct from the fields of the Campo de Cartagena, a competition to throw potatoes into the pot and of course various potato tasting sessions, which include omelettes as well as roast and boiled spuds.

The program of events during the day (and previous days) has yet to be finalized, but it has already been announced that the honour of giving the opening speech falls this year to Alfonso de la Cruz, a presenter on the regional television channel La 7. In addition, Noelia Arroyo, the Mayoress of Cartagena, is to be named official “Potato Ambassador”, a title she will doubtless flaunt with pride as she leads the local government of the second largest city in the Region of Murcia.

The most important day of the fiestas is the last, Sunday 7th June, when the activities include direct sales to the public, an arts and crafts market, the great potato exhibition, potato throwing competitions and of course tastings of roast potatoes, boiled potatoes, chips and a giant potato omelette for as many as 800 people!

(On a serious note, the importance of potato farming in the area can be seen in the fact that of the 4,500 hectares or so devoted to growing potato crops in the Region of Murcia, between 2,500 and 3,000 are within the municipality of Cartagena!)

Images: Ayto. Cartagena / Felipe G. Pagán

For more upcoming events in the Region of Murcia go to the What's on section of Murcia Today.

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