The lighting of the Lighting opens the Fair, which this year celebrates the half century of this festival in Los Remedios

SEVILLA, 23 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) -

A representation of residents and merchants from Los Remedios has been in charge of activating at 00:00 this Sunday, April 23, the lighting of the Seville Fair 2023, an edition in which the city celebrates half a century of the Seville Fair. April in Los Remedios, where he moved from the Prado de San Sebastián. A total of 25,000 LED bulbs from the Portada and 212,000 from the Real will illuminate an area that attracts thousands of Sevillians and visitors during the next week of lanterns, with an impact on the local economy of more than 900 million euros.

Before lighting the Lighting, the Seville City Council has offered a show that has been designed for tonight and that, for the first time, has been carried out in a gala format with video projection. The gala has had "a journey through time" as its guiding thread and has featured leading figures from the Sevillanas. Presented by Pepe Da Rosa and Ana Carvajal, it began at 10:45 p.m. and, through a series of videos that have had the collaboration of bailaor Pepe Galván and which will be projected on a big screen, a trip in time since the 1973 Fair.

The gala has been developed in various blocks, after which the public has been able to enjoy performances by artists such as Laura Gallego --with the collaboration of the Seville Municipal Symphonic Band and Pepe Galván--, Siempre Así, Enrique Casellas, María del Mar Berlanga and her dance group and the Cantores de Híspalis. In addition, this last group has prolonged its performance once the Lighting button has been turned on.

This edition is marked by forecasts of high temperatures. Precisely, the City Council's sanitary device, with almost a hundred professionals and fifteen vehicles, will be reinforced by the heat, since days with maximum temperatures that will exceed 35 degrees are expected. The good weather will also contribute to the fact that thousands of visitors gather at the fairgrounds. Not surprisingly, a hotel occupancy is expected to be around 90%, according to the hotel sector.

To date, the average of the reservations contracted in Seville hotels is 85 percent. This figure is ten percentage points "above" the expectations that existed last year at this time and "with data very similar to those of 2019, in terms of occupancy". A figure that could be even higher due to last-minute reservations.

As for public transport, the City Council activates this Saturday the special device for the Fair, calculating an increase of 3.4 percent in the Tussam offer compared to 2022. The lines that link the Prado with the Special Fair are: 1 , 21, 22, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 34, 38, C3, C4, LE, NL and EA. On the other hand, lines 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 20, 27 and 52 change their terminal to the Prado during Lighting Saturday, Sunday, Wednesday and Saturday of the Fair from 7:00 p.m.

The Metrocentro line maintains its normal operating hours, while the Night lines do not provide service during the week of the Fair, since most of the lines reinforced with the special device provide their uninterrupted night service, ending the service at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday April 30.

Metro de Sevilla will double its service offer in an ordinary period thanks to the increased schedule and greater availability of trains. During the Fair, the underground will run with trains in double composition during most of the device, except in some morning slots, in which single and double trains will alternate. In addition, starting this Saturday, an uninterrupted service of more than 200 hours will be offered to meet existing demand until 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, April 30 to May 1.

Regarding cleaning, Lipasam activates a special device made up of 564 operators and 113 vehicles, which, in addition, this year reinforces selective collection throughout the Real with the aim of making this festival a "more sustainable" event. In this edition, in addition, the municipal cleaning company will expand the selective collection of all packaging waste, "one of the most abundant and voluminous of all those generated at the April Fair". To facilitate the commitment of the booth owners, Lipasam will carry out information campaigns in all the booths with the delivery of 120,000 yellow bags and 1,500 bins for packaging waste.

Lastly, with regard to security, nearly 4,000 national and local police officers and civil guards make up the organization for the Fair. Specifically, 1,915 National Police officers, 984 civil guards and 1,055 local police officers. In the device of the Local Police of Seville, the same measures will be applied as in 2022, including, as in Holy Week, the drone unit, whose main objective in this case will be to control the bottles in the surroundings of the Real, as well as such as the irregular sale of drinks and food in the Calle del Infierno area.

The cover of the Fair, whose design is the work of Gregorio Esteban, technical architect and winner of the contest organized by the Major Festivals, is inspired by two regionalist buildings: the Plaza de España and the Coliseo España Theater building (avenida de la Constitución ). It has a logo alluding to the commemoration of the aforementioned 50th anniversary of the transfer of the Fair from the Prado de San Sebastián to Los Remedios, an ephemeris for whose commemoration the City Council, through the Los Remedios District and the Delegation of Major Festivals, and through initiative of the Association of Merchants and Professionals of Los Remedios, an agenda of events has been programmed.

This ephemeral structure is 40 meters high and 48 meters wide. The Portal is also six meters deep and has a volume of 3,450 cubic meters, as well as a total of 25,000 LED lights and 35,000 linear meters of tubes.