Halloween in Bernay. With 25,000 participants, the Samhain Festival was a hit

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Record broken for Festival of Samhain ! While the 2023 edition brought together 15,000 people in Bernay (Eure), 25,000 visitors went to the various events this year, between Thursday October 31 and Sunday November 3, 2024according to the organizers who were counting on 20,000 participants, paid and free activities combined.

A well-exceeded figure: 19,500 people paid to enter the abbey center (abbey church, village hall and public garden) and around 8,000 people participated in the free activities.

“It’s difficult to count the number of participants for the candy hunt and activities at the house of associations », enlightens Sandrine Hubertthe president of the Les Trouble-fétes association, at the origin of the festival.

Delighted visitors and organizers

“The feedback is very positive for the people who entered the festival,” reports Sandrine Hubert. A difference with those who unfortunately were not able to walk between the stands, because quotas requested by the authorities. In fact, the maximum number of people at the same time in the abbey center was set at 7,000 people.

The festival has found its audience which is growing in number.

On the side of witch’s marketthe organizers received many compliments for the quality of its exhibitors. “The visitors were delighted to see creators and not resellers », underlines Sandrine Hubert.

Other highlights of the festival: two fire shows. Although the first was stopped for around ten minutes due to a technical problem, the feedback from the public was very enthusiastic.

The second show, on Sunday November 3, 2024, was also a success according to the spectators. “We are very proud of what we have done,” smiles Sandrine Hubert, tired but happy with this long weekend.

A few hiccups to sort out

If the fallout is mostly positiveseveral points need to be improved for next year. Because, of course, there will be a new edition!

The first point that the organizers wish to resolve: the long queue to access the checkouts. “We will do more communication to encourage people to reserve their place online,” indicates the president of Trouble-fests.

This will allow make the passage more fluid. Indeed, the queue was long in the afternoons, while in the morning, traffic was easy. The opening of the witch’s market particularly suffered from the situation. “The queue went, on one side, to Boulevard Dubus and, on the other, to Rue Thiers,” announces Sandrine Hubert.

People took approximately one hour to enter the abbey pole. A solution was provided the next day with the opening of a second entrance on the public garden side. “We do not have the means to open even more boxes,” emphasizes the organizer.

98 volunteers took turns, around 50 per day, to man the cash registers, entrances and exits to the festival. “If we want to do more entries and exits, we need more volunteers,” she adds.

A complication that the organizers had not thought of: clogged toilets. “People threw couches in the toilets,” laments the president of the association.

For a few hours, visitors were unable to access it. To protect against a new incident of this type, the organizers will plan more toilets. And these will be dry toilets.

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