Office de Tourisme

Entertainment, shows, festivals... Here is a selection of some of the main events in Haute-Garonne.

LUCHON
Luchon Television Festival
In February
05 61 79 21 21
www.festivaldeluchon.tv
The annual festival that is a must for television channels: French television fiction competition, teasers, youth programs, advanced screenings of films made for television…

TOULOUSE
Printemps du Rire
1st fortnight in April
05 62 21 23 24
www.printempsdurire.com
The top national comedy festival, 15 days of festivities, thirty or so shows and more than 100 performances of new creations, new talent found among French comedians, theatre, music...

SAINT-FÉLIX-LAURAGAIS
Fête Historique de la Cocagne
Easter Sunday and Monday
05 61 83 06 46
www.lacocagne.sitew.com
Parades of groups in Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Grand Siècle costumes, an exposition related to traditional construction work craftsmen during the Middle Ages, or using a forge, money making, weaving, archery, rope making, thread spinning, entertainment, ancient games, musical groups…

RIEUX-VOLVESTRE
Festival of the Parrot
The 1st week-end of May
05 61 87 63 33
papogay.free.fr
Traditional archery competition to shoot a papogay (“parrot” in Occitan), a wooden bird set at the top of a 45 metre mast. Probably one of the few festivals in France which has been observed uninterrupted for such a long time (14th Century), with parading archers and their flowered quivers, parade floats, fife players and tambourines, music…

TOULOUSE
¡Rio Loco! The Garonne River Festival
Second to last week-end of June.
05 61 32 77 28
www.rio-loco.org
Every year the Garonne River “invites” another river of the world through its musicians and artists who take over the Prairie des Filtres and the Pont Neuf of Toulouse. Performances, concerts, stage design, cinema, and gastronomy all lend themselves to the theme as ways to discover the cultural riches of the guest country.

CANAL DU MIDI
Convivencia Music festival
In July
05 62 19 08 08
www.festivalconvivencia.com
Travelling music festival along the “Two Seas Canal”: 120 stops and more than 700 musicians, Occitan music, world music and dance music.

SAINT-BÉAT
Marble Sculpture Festival
In July
05 61 79 40 25
www.marbre-et-arts.fr
Exposition of contemporary Pyrenean marble sculptures made by internationally famous artists. These are set up in the streets and in the historical heart of the Antiquity part of town known for its marble quarry ever since.

HAUTE-GARONNE
31 Notes d’Été, festival of performances – tourist information entertainment
In July and August
05 34 45 58 30
www.31notesdete.fr
Music everywhere, available for everyone… sponsored by the General Council of Haute-Garonne this festival involves 34 free performances throughout the department. Organized with each local Tourist Information Office, other services complement the festival program: guided tours, wine and food tasting, discovery trails… The evening program includes: world and dance music, and also cinema, circus acts, and lively jazz…

SAINT-BERTRAND-DE-COMMINGES and surroundings
Comminges Festival
In July and August
05 61 88 32 00
www.festival-du-comminges.com
This is the great classical summer music festival dedicated to religious and chamber music. Twenty or so concerts are organized inside prestigious historical buildings. (Cathedral of Saint Mary in Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges, Saint Just Basilica de Valcabrère and also in the Saint-Gaudens Collegiate Church).

LAREOLE
The castle puts on a show!
In July and August
05 61 06 33 58
Every weekend, visitors enjoy free street performances of circus acts, poetry and readings which take place outside in the shaded park of the castle. Contemporary art expositions are also on display in the castle itself as well as in the park from June to September. Open to all and free...

MONTREJEAU
World Folkdance and music Festival
In August
05 61 95 80 22
www.festivalmontrejeau.fr
This popular and festive event brings together twenty or so folkdance and music groups (approximately 600 participants) performing a panorama of traditional dance and music from all over the world (Turkey, Serbia, Ukraine, Columbia, Jordan, Denmark…) One way to celebrate friendship and peace among people!

FRONTON
Fronton, Tastes and Smells
Week-end after August 15th
05 61 82 60 60
Three days to celebrate wine. Discover the local produce (wine, fruit, flowers…) combined with performances of street music, accordion and jazz.

LUCHON
Flower festival
Last week-end of August
05 61 79 21 21
www.luchon.com
First organized in 1888, this festival shows thirty or so parade floats decorated with flowers and built following a different theme each year; the banners and posters created by local artists serve as a memory of these festivals since the beginning of the last century.

CADOURS
Garlic Festival
Last weekend of August
05 62 13 74 00
www.cadours.com
A large gathering of the growers of purple striped garlic with prizes and various attractions and performances (traditional threshing, oxen cart rides, folk dance troupe...). Various events and attractions are planned for this weekend: children’s games, crafts fair…

RAMONVILLE-SAINT-AGNE
Street Festival
Mid-September
05 61 73 00 48
www.festivalramonville-arto.fr
Poetic performances, visual, moving or burlesque, open-air cinema, and musical cabaret are all programmed, with a constant back and forth exchange between East and West. From the Balkans to the Land of the Rising Sun via the Silk Road, a guaranteed change of scenery.

TOULOUSE and surroundings
Festival International Toulouse les Orgues
17 days in Octobre including 3 weekends.
05 61 33 76 80
www.toulouse-les-orgues.org
Since its creation in 1996, the Festival Toulouse les Orgues has focused on protecting and promoting the exceptional pipe organ heritage of Toulouse and its surrounding communities. Orchestras, choirs and baroque ensembles come together with the best organ players for sixty or so events. The festival organizes conferences, mid-day concerts, regional theme days along with events focused on young audiences, and musical recitals.

TOULOUSE and HAUTE-GARONNE
Jazz sur son 31
2nd half of October
05 34 45 05 92
www.jazz31.com
By creating the Jazz Sur Son 31 music festival in 1987, Haute-Garonne’s General Council was managing two objectives: to open up to the aspects of a music which is in constant evolution and organize affordable concerts so that the largest number of people are able to listen and applaud the musicians. For the past 20 years the General Council has never stopped broadening the horizons by considering both the audience and the musicians as permanent guests during the two week cultural event which is entirely devoted to jazz. Those we call “the Greats” whether national or internationally, those who have just begun to make a name for themselves, and those who will probably soon be at the front of the stage all take up their instruments in different places around the department, in Toulouse or its surrounding communities.