Seafood Festival
O Grove: ambassador of seafood
Ten days of festivities with concerts and a resolute international vocation are coming
O Corgo square is one of the nerve centres of O Grove. Around this space are distributed the fishing port and the fish market, with its daily hustle and bustle, the market square, the Town Hall, the tourist information office and the town's most important festivities and events. It is also the site of O Grove's iconic sculpture, the monument to the shellfish family. This stone work, by the Galician sculptor Alfonso Vilar Lamelas, depicts a woman, a man and a child holding gear from the sea on board a dorn.
The Seafood Festival is one of Galicia's longest-running gastronomic celebrations and probably one of the most international. It brings together the two economic pillars of the town: fishing and tourism. The formula is successful and the 200,000 visitors it has received on average in recent years.
Every October, the square of O Corgo is filled with tents that defy the autumn rains to offer a succulent selection of seafood from the estuary: clams in lemon or seafood sauce, grilled razor clams, oysters, steamed mussels or mussels in vinaigrette, cockles, crabs, barnacles, lobster, octopus á feira and different preparations of empanada. The most popular dish of the fiesta is rice with seafood.
The festival is attended by people from all over Spain, often on trips organised for the occasion, and by foreign visitors. In fact, the Fiesta del Marisco aspires to be recognised as being of International Tourist Interest and has become known in countries such as Italy and France with various promotional events.
History and curiosities of the festival
The origins of the festival date back to 1963. In the first editions, the celebration was concentrated in one weekend, the stalls were handmade and were built with wood from the local mountains. In order to publicise the festival, the people of Grovany used to stand at the entrance to the peninsula meca and distribute a promotional bag of shrimps and crabs among the cars.
In its more than 50 years of history, the Seafood Festival has accumulated anecdotes and curious facts. Thus, the graphic identity of the event is represented by a spider crab holding a cup of wine between its tongs. In addition, the formal act of the festival is the gala awarding of the Golden Spider Crabs, distinctions given by the Town Council to people and institutions that stand out for their activity linked to the town. However, the spider crab is the great absentee from the festival, as in October it is in the spawning season and is therefore closed.
In the 1970s the festival was accompanied by a Seafood Song Festival, which emulated those held at the time in San Remo and Benidorm, and which achieved a certain degree of fame.
What to do in O Grove
The municipality offers a wide and diverse range of tourist attractions that allow you to enjoy experiences for all tastes. In Punta Moreiras you will find the Salting Museum, a centre of ethnographic interest that reveals the town's canning past, and the aquarium, which has cold and warm water species. The A Siradella mountain is home to the Nature Classroom, dedicated to the local flora and fauna, and also to the Pedra Cabaleira viewpoint.
A visit to the Illa da Toxa is a must, with its chapel covered in shells, the spas and the Aldea de los Grobits children's playground, and a visit to the local handicrafts made from shells that are sold on the island!
O Grove also has numerous beaches. You can discover both cliff areas and small coves by following the Con Negro wooden promenade. Another option is to take a boat trip along the estuary aboard the boats that are based in O Corgo, next to the festival site.
