English, French, Australian, Japanese, Argentinean, Colombian, Swedish, Turkish... Many of the new residents of Gràcia are working so that the traditional neighborhood festivals go ahead. Even a handful of tourists are lending a hand, helping to deck out the streets. For years the most veteran organizers of these celebrations and many lifelong residents have stressed that the lack of generational renewal, the gentrification that affects this part of the city and also an exaggerated number of visitors distort this expression of Barcelona's popular culture. . But these days the involvement of people from all over the world in the festivities is being seen.
Mozart is one of the streets that best represents collaborative action. “If you are from abroad, being a volunteer gives you a sense of belonging”, highlights Catalina Kruger, an Argentine who this year has taken on the responsibility of being the director of the decoration of this street. As soon as she settled in Gràcia, four years ago, she joined the commission. She is not the only one. Catalina is the successor to Ali, responsible last year, who arrived from Australia in 2019 and who did not hesitate to lend a hand either. Together with them, volunteers from 26 other nationalities have followed the same path and have been involved in the preparations that, this summer, pay homage to the character of Alice in Wonderland. In this way, new residents of the neighborhood from England, Sweden, Turkey, Colombia, Venezuela and many other countries work hard these days to preserve the essence of the festivities.
Tordera and Verdi streets are not far behind. “We are like the UN, we have Hungarian, Chilean, Brazilian, Costa Rican and Japanese volunteers,” says the head of Verdi, Susana Font, who adds: “We don't care about the nationality of those who want to help. For us he is one more person who has hands and interest, and he is welcome. Some volunteers are full time, others for a day or an afternoon. If you want to work, you join, you do what you can.
In the district there are more than 27,000 foreigners, according to the latest data from the municipal register. They are 7% of the total population from other parts of the world who have chosen Barcelona to settle. Gràcia is precisely one of the districts where the international presence has grown the most in the last five years. Soki and Erina are two of them. They have been living in Barcelona for a few months, far from Tokyo, their hometown. Her smile and that of her friend never fades from her face while they glue together newsprint. It is her first experience in the preparations, which she has met thanks to another friend who has been in the city for a longer time.
As the foreign residents approach, curious tourists are also recruited who stop to ask what they are riding. This is how the story of Elie Noel was born, a French tourist who had his first experience last year and this year has decided to travel from Paris exclusively to be part of the group of volunteers from the Tordera street commission until the end of the festivities. The first thing that caught the attention of the Parisian is that "there is no stress." Despite the setbacks, the festive atmosphere is felt and there are no demands, “each one gives what he knows”.
“Many people who come to the festivities leave us their numbers to collaborate in the next ones, the meeting happens organically, we don't look for them”, affirms the patron saint of Tordera, Laia Miler. In her commission there are 25 people collaborating, of which only six are from the neighborhood and only three live in Tordera. If it weren't for the help of foreigners they wouldn't be able to decorate the streets. For this reason, they thank anyone who wants to join and make them feel like a neighbor of the neighborhood. It is so like that that Elie is already one more and they have nicknamed him El Renau, due to his aptitude as a painter.
What drives someone so foreign to the culture to participate as if they were a native? They all conclude that it is not only the creative process that motivates them. What attracts them the most is the "atmosphere" that is generated around them. “Now we don't know what we're creating, but I'm happy,” Soki exclaims, continuing, “We talk, drink and eat, as well as help. That's what makes me here." On Tordera street, while volunteers sing songs by Rosalía out loud, Noel, with a brush in hand and a large modernist stained glass window to paint, assures that "in Paris they don't see parties like this", much less the union of neighbors in after a collective work.
The enthusiasm for being part of these festivities allows them to ignore the graffiti that denounces the overcrowding and invites tourists to go home. For yet another year, the graffiti that blames them for a good part of the neighborhood's ills appears shortly before the festivities begin. The calligraphy of some of them is similar to that of the defaced ones last year. "There is like a breeding ground that does not end and does not allow the arrival of tourists and foreigners to be viewed favorably," says Joan Sánchez, manager of the Festa Major de Gràcia foundation, who also recognizes that the neighborhood lives a reality that is the product of the mass tourism and gentrification that has directly affected the residents, but he points out that it is the few who carry out these derogatory actions.
The increase in the rental price is one of the issues that most worries the residents and that affects the traditional evolution of the festivities. “The middle class has to be leaving Gràcia to live somewhere else”, laments Sánchez. This is reflected in the young people who were born on a street that their grandparents and parents had decorated, but when they leave the neighborhood, and even the city, they lose the feeling of belonging and that, in the end, destructures the generational change. that had been going on for several decades.
Neighborhood commissions, after all, are a social meeting place throughout the year. The decoration, in a certain way, is the excuse to get together and establish relationships with the neighbors. In this sense, Sánchez acknowledges that "the type of neighbor in the neighborhood is changing a lot", but he also assures that "the local festival has an anarchic point and reflects the multiculturalism of Gràcia", so everyone is welcome to keep the summer party alive most popular in Barcelona.
