June 21st see many French towns organising a Fete de la Musique, offering a programme of free live music events. Several organisations in Pontrieux had come together to organise the town’s first ever Fete de la Musique. An ambitious programme was organised with three venues running simultaneously.
Unfortunately the event appears to have been a washout. To be fair it was unfortunate that it rained for most of the evening and that two of the venues were outdoors. However the staging of Pontrieux’s first ever Fete de la Musique was almost a state secret. The only publicity I saw for the event was some flyers posted through my letter box on Monday. Alarmingly the leaflet stated that music singing and dancing would not only be taking place in the public venues but also in the cafes. As I am the only cafe in Pontrieux, this was news to me.
The only public transport serving Pontrieux is an infrequent train service that finishes in the early evening, therefore you have to come by car. Unfortunately whenever an event is organised in Pontrieux they are fond of closing off the town’s two main car parks to stage the event. I hate to be the foreigner stating the bleeding obvious, but perhaps someone might realise that the reason people don’t come is because there is nowhere to park?