From Bayeux to Port-en-Bessin, the spotlight is on summer events

THE summer entertainment from the intercommunal tourist office Bayeux Bessin are back from July 16 in Bayeux (Calvados), and from July 19 in Port-en-Bessin.

28 evenings offered during the summer

The program includes sound and light at Notre-Dame Cathedral, and fireworks from the east pier of Port-en-Bessin. In total, these are 28 evenings which are offered for tourists, but also for locals.

Meet at the cathedral – Contemplation from July 16 to August 31 in Bayeux

From dusk to midnight, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, from July 16 to August 31, 2024Notre-Dame de Bayeux will serve as the backdrop for a poetic ode with sound and light Rendez-vous at the cathedral – Contemplation.

The Spectactulaires company and its image distributors will return to service in 2024 for this show which attracted 41,000 spectators in the summer of 2023, according to a study carried out by a telephone operator. More than 4,000 for the highest week in terms of attendance,”

This will be the third season of this sound and light show, “revised and optimized”. The show, lasting twenty minutes, is played on a loop.

Visitors will find the 9 monumental flowers scattered at the foot of the 11th century building, on the rue Lambert-Leforestier side. These disco balls project rays of light that plunge the entire space into a disco-inspired enchantment while the cathedral’s façade tells a story with finely crafted light patterns.

Upstream, the installation will require 5 days of work. “The installation will require the blocking of rue Lambert-Leforestier on Thursday 11 and Friday 12 July,” announced Didier Llorca, director of the intercommunal tourist office.

• Practical. Rendez-vous at the Cathedral – Contemplation. July 16 to August 31: Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. Free admission – 21 evenings. From nightfall to midnight.

Meet on the quays (fireworks) from July 19 to August 30 in Port-en-Bessin-Huppain

Seven Rendezvous on the Quays are offered by the Bayeux intercommunal tourist office this summer, in Port-en-Bessin-Huppain.

Last year, the unmissable fireworks display on Friday evenings in summer made its grand return to the quays of Normandy’s leading fishing port. Fired at 11 p.m. from the eastern pier of Port-en-Bessin, Rendez-vous sur les quais offers a dazzling spectacle that brings together several thousand people on the port.

“Fireworks have been 17 years of success since 2007,” underlines Didier Llorca. “But in ten years, it will be difficult to set off fireworks,” announces Loïc Jamin. “It’s difficult to change a model that works overnight, but we are not insensitive to the societal and environmental issues surrounding fireworks. »

Solutions exist, such as drone shows. But the price and the conditions of feasibility (wind speed must be less than 35 km/h) and visibility (the public must be in line with the proposed scenes) are too restrictive to ensure continuity of the offer over a tourist season.

“We can’t imagine everything that AI will bring us,” says Loïc Jamin. In the meantime, the tourist office is relying on its strengths. “Before completely reshuffling the cards in 2026, with the new mandate in 2026, synonymous with the end of contracts with our service providers.”

Without necessarily throwing anything away, we are going to reexamine everything for the next events in Bayeux, Port-en-Bessin-Huppain, Arromanches-les-Bains and Juaye-Mondaye from 2026.

Economical consequences

The economic benefit of summer events is the direct impact for traders in Bayeux and Port-en-Bessin. “A fireworks display, for example, costs €6,000, security included. €43,000 for the 7 evenings. With an unbeatable investment/tourist attraction ratio, it is public money well invested considering the commercial benefits received the same evening on site,” notes Didier Llorca.

• Practical. Meet on the quays on Fridays, from July 19 to August 30, 2024, at 11 p.m., in Port-en-Bessin-Huppain. Free and open access. 7 evenings.

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