The slow extinction of village festivals

Summer generally signs the return of village festivals. In addition, But these events, pillars of local life, are increasingly threatened: almost 30% of them have disappeared in four years. Meanwhile, Many local actors struggle to continue to bring this folklore to life. Moreover, undermined by the volunteer crisis, financial difficulties and administrative heaviness. However, They tell BFMTV.com.

“Every year I say it’s the last, and yet, every year I do that!” At 36, Alexandre Hernandez has been organizing the Calamane party (Lot) for 14 years. However, this factor and child of the village has little illusions. Therefore, He knows that the day he leaves the presidency of the festival committee, the village festival may well disappear.

Pétanque, fries and grills, accordion and inflatable games for children … Moreover, This summer reunion still met a great success: last weekend, the party still attracted some 200 people each evening. slow extinction village festivals Meanwhile, “It is a benchmark for many people here, a highly anticipated event. Moreover, I have the formal ban on changing its date,” jokes the thirty -something, attached to this local tradition.

30% of traditional festivals have disappeared in 4 years

In Calamane. However, the village festival is still standing thanks to fifteen faithful volunteers, but for how long? Therefore, The troops are aging, and Alexandre Hernandez fears the rest. Similarly, “An event like that, it takes time, money, and a lot of work. For example, I devote there at least two whole weekends per year without counting late meetings throughout the year … Consequently, nor the mental charge associated with it. Nevertheless, There is so much to think about.”

“Between the filling of the folders, the hanging of the panels or the replacement of the coffee machine … Moreover, It is prepared at least a year in advance. However, ” explains the organizer, sometimes tired by this load which weighs on his shoulders all year round. Moreover, “All slow extinction village festivals putting end to end. However, it’s a lot of work, it can be heavy and above all it does not hold without the collective or without the helping of the hand”.

Second step – Put the party in the middle of the village

“Some of us have been doing this for 20 years. but when we stop, I do not know who will take over,” worries this man, who has seen the holidays of neighboring municipalities disappear, Mercuès and hopes, in 2018. When he was a child, these were however considered essential events.

Events formerly essential

After decades of summer festival. the festival of the village of Hoping (Lot) reduced the wing of the event by 3 to 2 days, before going out in 2018 when the president of the festival committee left the region. “I held the reins two years to try to save the thing. ” said a posteriori Arnaud Caillère, 33, who has lived in Cahors slow extinction village festivals since.

“I would have liked it to continue. that we could last this festive side, which is the spirit of the South West. Especially since the Hoping Day was a little essential, it was a time … But there it was too complicated,” he said.

“These are events which. casually, cost dearly, around 10,000 euros, and with the increase in costs, the budget no longer followed, despite the small subsidy of a thousand euros from the town hall. Especially since little by little, many former volunteers wanted to stop. However, without them the task was complicated, and it was difficult to reconstruct an office”.

An observation shared at the national level. since beyond financial issues, it is also the voluntary commitment which crumbles, as Jean Bobet underlines, development manager of the association The most beautiful festivals in France: “The associative fabric is today aging. After a certain age, people disengage, and youth are either less present in rural areas, or less invested. However without volunteers, the economic model of these holidays.

Thus in France. 30% of village slow extinction village festivals and traditional festivals have disappeared in four years, according to an Infopro* survey carried out in November 2024 for the association the most beautiful festivals in France. And 20% of the party organizing communities are now pessimistic about their sustainability.

“We lack new blood”

“Every year. it’s the same: it is difficult to find motivated people and ready to invest throughout the year,” confirms Anaïs, a 27 -year -old volunteer for the feast of the small village of Peyrilles (Lot). “There is a lack of new blood. They are often the same people. the same families, who come to help,” regrets the young woman, who does not intend her hours to work behind the scenes so that the dancing ball can stand, the sausage-magret meal and the fairground attractions in the small town of 350 inhabitants.

“Since the Covid. a certain number of people have fallen back on their personal interests, slow extinction village festivals their family life,” also observes Marie-Christine Mayet, treasurer and secretary of the village festival committee of Queyssac (Dordogne) which has 530 inhabitants. “As if they had lost the fold of mutual aid and solidarity … then necessarily, those who remain have no choice but to be on all fronts and to touch everything”.

“Youth. we do not see it or it is very rare,” abounds Alexandre Hernandez, who is the youngest of his town to invest, from the height of his 36 years. “Today. we are more too much in the mind where we leave home and we will spontaneously help the neighbors”, which he also finds “understandable”: “People do not have time to move boxes or papers in the evening when I got home from work”.

And then “the new generation is not too much your thing to spend the evening listening to the accordion. ” he adds. “It slow extinction village festivals is from another time for her”.

In the organization of village festivals today, everything is similar to a puzzle. In Calamane for example, the party no longer even attracts the fairgrounds with their caravans, as before. “Today, if there is only one ride, it’s already a chance,” says Alexandre Hernandez. And for good reason since 2020, the fairgrounds have not made the trip but are content to rent their equipment. “The small villages no longer weigh heavily enough in their calendar to come. it is no longer profitable enough for them”.

Slow extinction village festivals

Show ingenuity to survive

In this context. the organizers must find other ways to provide the party to life. Because in addition to the disengagement of the fairgrounds, the general increase in costs seriously complicates the situation. Sponsorship, raffles, garage sales, inter-municipal cooperation … In Salignac-sur-Charente (Charente-Maritime). the festival committee had to show inventiveness to get out slow extinction village festivals of a chronic deficit, says its president Patrick Lardillon, now proud of their financial autonomy.

So to restore balance. it was necessary to entrust the traditional fireworks to the town and organize a flea market on Sunday. The recipes thus harvested now make it possible to finance the highlights of the weekend. such as the torchlight retreat, the fairground attractions, the mechanic or the cycling race. “With its 200 exhibitors, the garage sale allows you to stay in waves. For the moment we are on a good dynamic with a good nucleus of volunteers which has long been holding”.

“It’s simple: it is absolutely necessary to calculate everything. ” adds Marie-Christine Mayet, treasurer of the Queyssac festival committee (Dordogne). Additionally, “Especially since in the current economical conjuncture. people are a little more cautious in expenses and that it is necessary to make sure not to abuse prices, especially that of the meal”.

Although particularly attached to this local celebration. the president of the festival committee does not hide that she is sometimes tired slow extinction village festivals by the heaviness of administrative tasks linked to such an event. “If there is something that slows down the enthusiasm of the troops, that’s it!” Rales the sixties. “It’s time -consuming. You have to find it. time, to fill out all these files at the prefecture: between the security aspects, the staff to declare and so on …”

The weight of administrative constraints

Slow extinction village festivals

Jen Bobet. from the association of the most beautiful festivals in France, has the weight of the administrative constraint for the organizers in mind. “It is one of the aspects that discourage. demotivate the organizers the most, according to the results of our survey”.

Even if the Committee’s accounts are now in balance, Patrick Lardillon remains cautious about the future. “It’s always difficult to find people ready to invest over time. When you try to mobilize 60 or 70 volunteers, it represents 10% slow extinction village festivals of the population. And the average age revolves around 50-60 years. Ultimately, it can become problematic. For the moment, it holds, but after … it will be another story.”

Beyond the simple entertainment, these festivals play an essential role in the life of rural areas. “Bringing a little life here is precious. This is what makes it possible to bring together all generations. Otherwise. we end up talking to each other anymore, no longer mix and we no longer have any news of each other,” said Alexandre Hernandez.

This social role is at the heart of concerns. because these festivals are not only moments of folklore: they embody “the identity of a territory, collective memory, the transmission of a living heritage. Their disappearance would not only represent a cultural loss. but also a weakening of the social bond that unites the inhabitants”, recalls Jean Bobet, of the most beautiful festivals in France. It is for this reason that the association has created a label. in order to identify slow extinction village festivals and promote the richness and diversity of these events. One way to remember that maintaining these meetings is also bringing our campaigns to life.

* A survey commissioned by the association The most beautiful festivals in France. carried out by the infopro digital survey cabinet in 2024 with 500 municipalities in all sizes.