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Balearic Islands Day. Formentera 2014

diadabalears2014 webAn events programme by turns sports-oriented and cultural has been laid out by the Formentera Island Council's Office of Community Involvement and Local Holidays in preparation for the upcoming Dia de les Illes Balears, or Balearic Islands Day.

Beginning 27 February and continuing through 2 March, the activities programme includes everything from official acts of ceremony with musical accompaniment provided by the Formentera School of Music and Conservatory; workshops centred on crafts and street-theatre and designed specifically for children; open-houses at the Can Marroig Interpretation Centre and the Antoni Blanc Sports Centre; a foot-face organised by the Grup Esportiu Espalmador and a photo exhibition organised by the Institut d'Estudis Baleàrics and entitled D-ISLA A-ISLA.

Photo exhibition by Vicenç Ochoa and Xim Jurado, D-ISLA A-ISLA. Two different artistic gazes form the basis of the first official act of Dia de les Illes Balears, an exhibition at the Old Town Council Exhibition Hall until 1 March.

To balance out a programme chock full of cultural activities, on 27 February organisers have also scheduled an arts and crafts workshop for children. Taking place the next day, representatives of the Institut Balear de la Natura (IBANAT) have contributed by organising an open-house at the Can Marroig Interpretation Centre. This last activity – planned as a guided tour for all ages – was conceived as a way to raise awareness regarding important environmental issues at the Ses Salines National Park.

The regional holiday has also been the occasion to organise an array of sports activities, starting with a coastal run of the island dubbed Formentera All Round Trail and continuing with an open-house event at the Antoni Blanc Sports Centre. The sports centre open-house will give visitors the chance to take in demonstrations varying from synchronised swimming to martial arts. Spectators looking for competitive action can watch and cheer on during the day's volleyball and basketball tournaments. To further promote the Blanc centre's normal activities programme, the open-house will also feature a series of guided classes. Finally, rounding out the sports portion of the week's activities on Sunday, 2 March is the Balearic Motorcycle Trials Championship, a new event organised by Motoclub Formentera.

With participative theatre as a jumping off point, Formentera families will have the opportunity to enjoy a morning of activities with a more cultural-slant. At the centre of town - Sant Francesc's La Plaça de la Constitució - the theatre company known as La Tresta i la Verdesca will make it its business to take theatre to the streets and raise public participation with a show taken from the programme of TAP de Sa Xerxa, a youth theatre in the Balearic Islands that is sponsored by Obra Social “La Caixa”. Shifting gears in the afternoon, the annual moment of ceremony accompanying El dia de les Illes Balears will include a visit by Ramón Bauza, president of the Balearic Islands Autonomous Community; musical accompaniment by the Formentera School of Music and Conservatory and a display by Formentera's traditional dance group Les Colles de Ball (Xacoters I Pastorells). To bring the day to an official close, a food-and-wine matching dinner will be overseen by Associació Gastronòmica Es Morter.

The Dia de les Illes Balears programme – stretched across four days and running the gamut of interests – should be the perfect way to wind down a long winter.