Santa Eulària has postponed the two squid-themed events that were set to open this year’s Sant Carles festivities. The new Fireta des Calamar on Friday 30 October and the Fira Gastronòmica des Calamar on Saturday 31 October will not take place as planned. The council took the decision after Spain declared three days of national mourning following the collision of two high-speed trains near Urda, in Toledo, on Wednesday morning. At least 68 people died and around a hundred were injured.
The council has not yet set new dates for either event and says it will announce them in the coming days. The rest of the programme is unchanged.
A decade of squid
The Fira des Calamar began in 2015 as a modest experiment by the Sant Carles neighbours’ association: a lunch in the village where twelve stands, from restaurants to groups of friends, each cooked a tapa using one main ingredient, squid. Squid is a local catch and right for the season. The tapas cost three euros, the participants judged each other’s dishes, and the prize went to a traditional recipe: calamar a la bruta, the Ibizan way of cooking squid in its own ink.
Ten years on, the fair has become one of the most anticipated days of the village’s calendar. It is now organised by the festivities committee, the neighbours’ association, the island’s fishermen’s guild and the council. Around twenty teams of professional and amateur cooks take part, each serving at least fifty portions to the public, and the fishermen bring in enough fresh squid for thousands of tapas. Classic recipes such as squid stuffed with sobrasada or simply grilled sit alongside more inventive dishes, and a jury awards prizes in both categories.
This year was meant to be bigger still. The tenth edition was going to begin with the first Fireta des Calamar, an afternoon of squid tapas and live music in the village’s pedestrian streets, followed on Saturday by the fair itself, with tastings, children’s activities and concerts into the night.
Festivities that carry on
The squid events are part of a much wider celebration. Sant Carles de Peralta, in the north-east of the island, honours its patron saint every autumn with more than thirty activities lasting into December. On 1 November the village pays tribute to its parishioners over 80 with mass, traditional dance and a shared lunch. The feast day itself, 4 November, brings a solemn mass led by the bishop of Ibiza and Formentera, a procession, a ballada of traditional dance and music into the evening. Later in the month come the Sant Carles Extrem, the Sant Carles Trail and a walk to Cala Mastella.
When the squid returns, the village will be ready.
