Suppression of the Saint-Michel festival: the fairgrounds threaten to block Toulouse for 1 month!
A sacred standoff is announced between the fairgrounds of the Saint-Michel festival and the town hall of Toulouse.
The fair “exists for fifty years in the pink city” and “this is being undermined following new directives issued by the City of Toulouse” explain the showmen. A working group has been formed.in order to find a new location to host this fair” and “despite the 25 sites examined (including 10 proposed by the fairground delegation of the Foire Saint-Michel) none found favor with the new municipality”. So that “no lasting proposal could succeed” denounce the showmen in a press release which questions: “Has the new municipality really wanted to host the Foire Saint-Michel after a year of negotiations?”
To put pressure, the Fédération de Forains de France has filed a notice of demonstration valid from September 16 to October 16, 2022. The starting point of this gathering “will be done from the Toulouse Nord toll gates. The route taken during this event will be via the various tolls, airport, ring road, Zénith and finally the city center”. Or a one-month blocking promise! “It’s quite possible since the 90 fairground families will have nowhere to go so they will stay in Toulouse” threatens one of the representatives, Stéphane Dubief, who warns “we will demonstrate if the municipality remains on its positions”. Showmen don’t want a “negotiation”but one “the solution” For example “stay at the Zénith temporarily while waiting to find a permanent destination”.
A solution had been proposed by Jean Luc Moudenc, mayor of Toulouse, for an installation at the MEETT – the new Parc des Expositions – “an aborted solution, the MEETT being already reserved for other events”. Furthermore “the prohibitive rental price as well as the technical impossibility of installing a fairground thwarted this project which could not succeed.”