The battle to relocate it in Ifema

A few years since the pandemic has been so Horribilis as the present for the veteran Madrid Book Fair. And we just have the first weekend. The most important editorial event of the year in the capital has already suffered a few setbacks, whose motivations and nuances are understood if we go to the history of owners, situations and plans around the fair.

What’s happening this year. The Book Fair has encountered two unexpected closures of its doors. The first, The day of the inaugurationMay 30: a few hours after the visit of Queen Letizia, the organization announced that the Directorate of El Retiro told them that from 4:00 p.m. the park would be evicted because, From 18:00, the red alert was going to be activated by adverse weather phenomena. Specifically, a maximum temperature of 35 degrees. At 18 it was announced that the park reopened, but that the fair remained closed.

Fair complaints. The next dayon Saturday, the opening in the afternoon was delayed an hour, with cancellation of firms planned between 17 and 18. two relatively unusual days in the trajectory of the fair, and that have unleashed the complaints of the booksellers and the organization of the event itself. Lola Larumbe, from the Alberti bookstore, I asked for explanations Given these closures: “The park was open but the booths were closed, that discrepancy is what is not understood very well.” He also considered that “something is doing wrong” when the Reabre park and the fair no, but did not want to see “hidden motifs or strange things.”

Penguins benefits. It is logical that the organization and booksellers and publishers will solve themselves with these closures. The fair is an important business for all of them, and for the smallest participants, an essential event to save the accounts of the year, since in many cases the fair can mean 20% of its annual billing, or even more. To this is also added the important value of the visibility they grant This type of event. Visits in Madrid are around two million people and the business figure exceeds 5 million euros, according to Official data.

Even so, these closures are relatively common: last year there were also partial closures two days, but what makes them unique this year is the lack of explanation and coordination of the City Council.

A certain instability. This phase of doubts and complaints related to the location in the retirement has served to reinflate the rumors about a possible change of location of the fair. These do not come out of nowhere: Already in 2019The country spoke of “difficult and tense” negotiations between the organization and the City Council. This dozen meetings to negotiate were settled with a reduction of meters and the disappearance of 10 booths. According to the City Council, to “preserve the fragility of the Park from the pressure of the fair.” He gave way to the requests of the organization, since the initial intention of the Consistory was to remove 60 booths, equivalent to 200 meters from the total 1300.

Manuel Gil, then director of the Fair, put on the table a new location: “The Madrid City Council has not asked to take out the retirement fair, but in private conversations they do raise the possibility of sending it to Ifema.” That same year, Freedom Digital also talked about the unofficial possibility of A transfer to Ifema.

Different site. Although today Madrid identifies the Book Fair with Retiro, has gone through other places: it started in 1933 at the Paseo de Recoletos, where it was until 1967, when it moved to the retirement. In 1979 he was held at the Casa de Campo, but was a failure of assistance, so the following year he returned to the gardens of the center of Madrid. A couple of years was even held outside Madrid (1946 and 1952 in Barcelona, ​​1948 in Seville), but when the fairs were spreading throughout the Peninsula, the Book Fair ended up centralizing.

At the moment, the retirement. IFEMA, on the other hand, already has its own fair: BASTwhich alternates its headquarters between Madrid and Barcelona, ​​and is celebrated in October, oriented to professionals. LD entitled his note about the fair in 2019 with a resounding “The City Council declares war”, which is more metaphorical than anything else, but that makes clear the nature of the clash between the institutions, and that with the excuse of the preservation of the retirement, it could be hardened in future editions.

Header | Leticia Roncero in Flickr

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