And why not spend the summer in Niort? The question arises when almost 40% of French people do not go on vacation. So, for Niort residents who plan to play at home in July or August, as well as tourists passing through the capital of Deux-Sèvres, the City of Niort will meet at Pré Leroy.
“We are targeting people aged three to one hundred and seventy-seven”
From July 6 to August 18, 2024, the Bord de Sèvre park will be renamed Niort beach, and will welcome a total of twenty-seven associations from Niort, which will introduce volunteers to nearly thirty different disciplines free of charge. Among the activities offered, listed exhaustively on the site Niort Inside OutsideBMX, climbing, wheelchair biathlon or even the famous climbing cage, “favorite animation last year”according to the deputy for sports for the Niort town hall, Florence Villes.
New this year: after ten years of absence, the ponies will make their big return to Niort beach, to the delight of the youngest.
© (Photo illustration NR Samuel Magnant)
According to her, the 18e Niort beach edition had drained “21,000 people” at Pré Leroy, in 2023. This year, the elected official is counting on the participation of the Niort horse racing club to attract families again. “Pony rides worked very well during the sports festival and the Olympic Games”the 1is last June, she reports. While this is the only paid activity in the program, grooming will be free, “what should please children”.
21.000
This is, according to the deputy for sports at the City of Niort Florence Villes, the number of people who visited Niort beach in 2023.
And not only that. “We are targeting people aged three to one hundred and seventy-seven”says Stéphane Franchi, sports instructor and member of the event organizing team for the City of Niort. In addition to the slots offered by the various sports associations, which will receive financial support from the City, facilities will be left for self-service use, such as basketball hoops, wooden games and table tennis tables.
“A place to relax”
If, in the Olympic and Paralympic year, sport will be particularly in the spotlight this edition, Florence Villes defends “a real place of relaxation, with shaded areas that will provide shelter from the sun”lounge chairs and picnic tables included.
On the other hand, don’t expect to be able to spread your towel on a sandy beach. Since 2022, the City has abandoned the idea, too costly and above all unprofitable. With more than five successive heatwaves that summer, the beach looked like a desert: a furnace, where no one dared to venture.
Niort beach, from July 6 to August 18, 2024 at Pré-Leroy Park, in Niort, from 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Programming and calendar available on the Niort inside outside website. Catering on site.
