The Sitges Carnival begins with the events leading up to the strongest days of the festival, which this year will be between February 8 and 14. This afternoon the program of events was presented in the Sitges City Council Meeting Room, with representation from the City Council, the commission and the groups that will bring the Carnival character and the Queen to the streets in 2024. The forecast is that around 250,000 people will visit Sitges during Carnival week. To guarantee the fun and safety of both participants and visitors, a preventive and security device consisting of more than 1,000 personnel has been planned.
The La Disbauxa and Exterminio parades will have the participation of about 2,000 people in the 39 floats (in the case of the night parades) and 19 in the children's parades, which will bring the three Carnival entities to the streets: Society Recreativa El Retiro, Casino Prado Suburense and the Independents of the Carnival.

Carnival 2024 consolidates the model of the previous edition and, as happened last year, the Disbauxa and Exterminio streets will leave the promenade and end at Cap de la Vila. The Rúa de la Disbauxa, on Sunday, February 11, will begin at 7:30 p.m. and the Rúa del Exterminio, on Tuesday, February 13, at 9 p.m. The children's parades maintain the same schedule as in 2023, at 12 noon, both on Sunday and Tuesday of Carnival.
The Mayor of Sitges, Aurora Carbonell Abella, emphasizes that “these are days of great participation in the festival by Sitgetans, but they are also days when we receive many visitors. This should make us live the Carnival intensely, but also show the respect and civility that we have for Sitges and our festivals.” The Mayor highlights that "the new Carnival Commission is doing a great job and we will surely experience some sensational days, where we will be able to show our great Carnival with a magnificent organization."

The Councilor for Traditions and Festivals, Eva Martín Martínez, explains that “everything is now ready to celebrate a great Carnival. The entities and groups have once again demonstrated the priceless social capital of Sitges and the City Council has activated all the services and machinery necessary to make the party a reality.” The councilor highlighted that "this year we have been able to apply a first increase in the financial allocation to organize the characters that we hope can be expanded in the coming years" as well as recalling "the financial contribution to the groups which this year is of total of 37,000 euros.”
The new Carnival Commission, chaired by Jordi Andreu, has focused its efforts on the most traditional events and support for entities and groups. In this sense, Jordi Andreu considers that "even though the Carnival has fallen very early, we will have a great party and I see the people very animated." Andreu adds that "this first year of the new Commission we have not been able to do everything we wanted, but the commitment is to work with the Carnival all year round and thus have enough time to foresee things and talk a lot with everyone." Despite the few changes, the president of the Commission advances that "there are already new things, such as the new decoration that we launched in the City Hall and in the Cap de la Vila, and that next year it will be expanded to more spaces."
The Sitges Carnival in 2024 also launches a website, available at www.sitgescarnaval.cat, with information about this edition, but also with the history of the festival.

Carnival and Queen
The presentation of the Carnival Queen will take place in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, on February 3, at 7 p.m. From the Huertos group, 4 episodes of the Good Game series have been broadcast on social networks, where a group of young people want to create a video game set in Sitges. The final chapter will be immersive and will be experienced in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento. There, the young people will have to figure out how to find a Carnival Queen. From the Huertos group, Xavi Huete explains that "those who cannot follow it from the Town Hall square can do so from the Retiro, with a screen that will broadcast it live through the Canal Blau TV broadcast." Furthermore, once the event in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento ends, the Queen's procession will go to the Retiro to enjoy the royal cocktail. One hour before, at 6 in the afternoon at the Casino Prado, the proclamation of the Children's Queen of the Sitges Carnival will take place, organized by the Casino Prado with the collaboration of the entity's Esplai de Danza. The character celebrates 30 years, this 2024.
The Arrival of His Majesty Carnival is on Thursday, February 8, at the Frigate, where you can learn the identity of the King of the Sitges Carnival. Those responsible for the organization of the Carnival, Panxampla's, assure that the Carnival will arrive at 7:24 p.m. and that it will put in its place something that did not go well in the past. From Panxampla's, Edgar Comas, who is also the author of this year's Carnival poster, admits that "the figure of the poster will take shape, as well as other aspects of the poster." We will have to be attentive to this Arrival, because the Panchampla's affirm that fabulous and captivating things will happen that will not leave anyone indifferent.

Apart from the most crowded events, the Sitges Carnival has an extensive program over 7 days. The Huertos group will be in charge of reviving the Before Parade on Friday night, while on Saturday it will start with the traditional Camas Race, organized by the Prado. Also on the same Saturday, the Barracas de Sitges collective will organize the Ball del fardo in the afternoon. Saturday, therefore, is consolidated as the great day of the fardo, in a year in which the two great characters of the festival (Carnival and Queen) are organized by colles de fardo.
Both the El Retiro Recreational Society and the Prado Suburense Casino have an extensive program of events, with their own weight for the start of Jueves Lardero with the xatonadas. During this event, which is also organized in the Palace of the Moro King by the Popular Dance Group, His Majesty Carnival and the Queen of Carnival will visit the three entities.
Among the novelties of Carnival 2024, the City Council organizes a dance at the Hort de Can Falç for the Sunday and Tuesday nights of Carnival, once the Desmadre Parade (Sunday) and the Extermination Parade (Tuesday) end. This is an extraordinary measure promoted by the City Council and has the endorsement of the health and security forces, since this year the Retiro cannot organize the party after the streets.

Within the framework of prevention, Carnival 2024 maintains a campaign framed in the Local Plan for the Prevention of Addictive Behaviors. The City Council promotes respect and civility with the message 'Sitges ❤ responsible consumption'. Messages will also be displayed to encourage the consumption of water and information will be given on the risks posed by other substances such as alcohol, tobacco or drugs.
Also, and as usual, the Punt Lila is set up on the days with the greatest influx of visitors, such as the nights of Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday, on the Paseo de la Ribera where there will be a tent and there will also be a traveling couple. that will be identified. The Punt Lila will also offer service at the Carnival balls at the Hort de Can Falç. Punt Lila offers support, advice and accompaniment to anyone who suffers or witnesses sexist or lgtbiphobic aggression.
The security device will have more than a thousand personnel including the Local Police, Mossos d'Esquadra, Emergency Medical Service (SEM), Red Cross, Firefighters, Civil Protection, and 120 private security personnel. The Coordination Operational Center (CECOR) will be installed at the Local Police headquarters, from where 112 emergency calls will be centralized to speed up the response to emergencies that may occur in the municipality during the celebration. In addition, SEM, Red Cross and Firefighters will be in charge of health services during Carnival week.

Public transport companies, both train and bus, will offer special services during the busiest days, Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday nights, as well as the following mornings. The objective is to facilitate the arrival and departure of visitors and facilitate the travel of people who must travel.

More information: www.sitges.cat/carnaval and www.sitgescarnaval.cat