Zaragoza gets ready for nine days of Fiestas del Pilar, with firefighters reading the opening speech

Zaragoza's biggest week of the year starts on Saturday, 10 October, when the city's firefighters read the pregón, the opening speech, from the balcony of the city hall. The Fiestas del Pilar run until Sunday, 18 October, under the motto “Este Pilar, te vas a emocionar”, roughly “This Pilar, you'll be moved”.¹³

The opening parade will turn the centre into an open-air stadium to celebrate Zaragoza's selection as European Capital of Sport for 2027, with sport, music, circus and street theatre on the route to the Plaza del Pilar.³

The Ofrenda de Flores on 12 October is again the most crowded event of the fiestas. The city says 994 groups with 99,980 registered participants will take part, plus thousands of people who join without registering. Because 12 October falls on a Monday this year, many visitors from the rest of Spain will have a long weekend.²⁴

This edition adds a folk stage, the Escenario de Raíz, in Plaza Salamero, a crafts market in Plaza de Aragón, new spaces for children and a fourth fireworks display in Plaza San Francisco. Street shows will fill Paseo Independencia, including two giant animal puppets from the company Paris Bénarès. Venezuela is the guest country at the Fuente de la Hispanidad.²¹

The programme lists close to 1,000 events, many of them free.⁴