The First Fire Ignited by Alicante's Hogueras 2025: The Rice Contest Nears Full Capacity

On Sunday, June arrives, the month of the Hogueras de San Juan in Alicante, and it does so with the festive calendar in full swing. Just like the paella pans that will once again fill Lo Morant Park in the 38th edition of the rice contest organized by the Federació de Fogueres, which was presented this Thursday at the Sorell restaurant.

The former paella contest was born with the aim of fostering camaraderie among the commissions in 1985, although the pandemic prevented it from being held for two years, so it does not reach a round number. This will not hinder the gathering of commissions and barracas in the same venue to share a day of recreation and celebration that is expected to be crowded.

There are already 90 commissions registered and 42 out of 51 barracas, as explained this Thursday by the president of the Federació de Fogueres, David Olivares. More than eight thousand people will gather in Lo Morant Park, a place that has been consolidated after many years following the contest's move from San Fernando Castle.

As a novelty this year, Makro, one of the sponsors and supplier of the ingredients for making the rice, will distribute nominative vouchers among the commissions to purchase everything they need for the dish.

The rice contest will open the main month of the Hogueras de San Juan, where events will follow culminating in the main days of the Plantà on June 18th and the Cremà, of course, on the night of Tuesday, June 24th.

It will be on Friday, June 6th, when the belleas del foc, Adriana Vico and Valentina Tárraga, along with their dames d'honor, will light the firecracker that will ignite the Hogueras de Alicante. Metaphorically, as that day they will shout 'Ja estem en Fogueres'.

This day is one of the most anticipated by the people of Alicante, foguerers, and barraquers, as the proclamation that marks the beginning of the Hogueras de Alicante will be celebrated with a couple of preliminary events.

The event 'Música per a una festa' will bring together several music bands near the ADDA at 6:30 p.m. to perform marches and pasodobles of Fogueres. They will start with 'Josep Amand Tomàs', dedicated to the president of Sèneca-Autobusos and Fogueres Especials d'Alacant on his 50th anniversary as a foguerer.

The festero will travel there to also act as the host of the tribute to the deceased foguerer and barraquer, which will be held at 7:00 p.m. at the monument located in Plaza de España. After that, at 7:30 p.m., the proclamation parade, will start from this point to the Town Hall Square.

It is still unknown which festero or person linked to the world of the Hogueras de Alicante will offer the proclamation for 2025, just as the official poster, in its final days of competition, is also unknown. What is clear is that it will be held at 9:00 p.m. in the Town Hall Square with the traditional party at Muelle 12 of the Port, including a night mascletà.

24 hours later, on Saturday, June 7th, with the city already immersed in the festive atmosphere, the ninots will take over the main streets of Alicante with their traditional parade. The parade will start at 7:00 p.m., and the commissions of hogueras and barracas will follow the official itinerary.

Two mascletàs from the 'Pòlvora tot l'any' cycle will continue the festive agenda of the Hogueras de Alicante. The one on Sunday, June 8th, near the Puerta de Alicante shopping center, and the one on Saturday, June 14th, at the roundabout of the Gran Vía shopping center. The latter is out of competition and will be handled by the Hermanos Sirvent.

In the afternoon, another grand parade will be held, anticipating the essence of the main days of June: the Entry of bands and commissions of the Hogueras de Alicante. All of them will depart from Plaza de los Luceros at 6:30 p.m. and reach the Town Hall Square via the official route.

The ninot exhibition will close its doors at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 15th, when the count will begin to determine the ninots indultats of the Hogueras 2025.

The commissions will go to the Lonja del Pescado to collect the pennants, both for category and other awards, just like the barracas. There, at the doors of the exhibition hall, the names of the ninots indultats 2025 will be heard.

As a novelty, the awards ceremony for the ninot exhibition includes prizes for the best models, displayed at the Gran Vía shopping center. Likewise, the Fogueres Escolars jury will visit Alicante's schools on June 10th and 11th.

The fireworks will return to the city of Alicante on June 17th at 11:00 p.m. with the Arrival of the Fire at the façade of El Corte Inglés de moda, in front of the Estrella roundabout. The Hermanos Sirvent, will be in charge of the show, presumably dedicated to its founder, Pedro Luis Sirvent, who passed away last March during an explosion in the workshop.

A couple of hours earlier, the Fogueres Market, will be inaugurated on Federico Soto promenade. The novelty is that the music will be turned off during the afternoons of June 21st and 22nd, a measure by the City Council due to complaints from the festeros during the offering parade.

The document accessed by TodoAlicante indicates that the plantà of racós and barracas is allowed for June 18th - when the mascletàs de Luceros-, will also begin, in the lead-up to the main days of the Hogueras. Its opening is scheduled for the 19th, although it remains to be seen whether with music or not.

In any case, the children's hogueras must be planted in the early hours of June 20th, as the jury will pass that same day to evaluate them and announce the awards from 5:00 p.m.

That night, June 20th, is the nit de la plantà. All the adult fogueres must be planted by the early hours of June 21st for the jury's visit. The awards reading will be from 5:00 p.m., and there it will be revealed which is the best hoguera of Alicante 2025.

During the afternoon of June 21st, the first day of the flower offering to the Virgen del Remedio, will also be held from 6:30 p.m. on the official route. The second day will be during the afternoon of June 22nd.

Also, during the morning of June 22nd, the awards ceremony, will be held on the official route. The following day, June 23rd, will be the turn of the international folkloric parade starting at 8:00 p.m.

As the culmination of the festivities, the cremà of the hogueras arrives. It will be at midnight on San Juan's day when a palm tree will be fired from Mount Benacantil to start the nit de la cremà. The first hogueras to burn will be the official ones, at midnight.

From June 25th to 29th, the fireworks contest will be held from Alicante's waterfront. The last of the events will be on June 29th, when the coso multicolor. The parade of floats and confetti changes location and moves to the vicinity of the Gran Vía shopping center from 7:00 p.m.