The 42 final 'colles' taking part in the 29th Concurs de Castells, due on Sunday, 29th of September, in Torredembarra; on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th of October, at Tarraco Arena Plaça, in Tarragona, were unveiled this morning.
This edition will see, for the first time in Concurs de Castells, both Colla Castellera de l’Esquerra de l’Eixample and Castellers de Sarrià, both from Barcelona. Castellers de Mollet, on the other hand, will perform in Tarraco Arena Plaça for the first time on the Saturday event; while Marrecs de Salt and Nens del Vendrell will be back on the event due on Sunday, which will gather the best 12 colles in the country.
The Major of Tarragona, Rubén Viñuales, welcomed the 42 colles confirmed for the 2024 edition. “Tarragona has a long castells tradition. The city’s strong support for this event, the most important and unique of the entire castells calendar, which will reach its 29th edition this year, is a clear of example of that”, said Viñuales. He also wanted to stress “how excited we all are, both spectators and castellers, about meeting up on the 3 events due on Torredembarra and Tarragona, as this is something so unmissable and exciting, we simply can’t wait for it to begin”. Finally, the Major of Tarragona encouraged everyone “to perform at its best and start working already on the 2026 edition, as it will mean the 30th edition of the Concurs”.
The Major of Torredembarra, Vale Pino, remind us about the fact that Torredembarra has already been part of the organisation of the Concurs for 10 years, together with Tarragona. “In 2014, we welcomed the Concurs de Castells to our plaza and, today, we feel very proud of being able to continue with this relationship, which has been made possible thanks to an initiative by Nois de la Torre”. Pino congratulated the 12 colles that have entered the event due on the 29th of September in Torredembarra and promised “the organisation will be impeccable so that we can enjoy an extraordinary event, full of castells and excitement”.
The director of Concurs de Castells, Xavier Gonzàlez, highlighted that “the organisation is providing both colles and spectators with the best performance in terms of security, cleanliness, comfort in the plaza and attention to the media, among many other aspects, in order to achieve a great Concurs de Castells”.
The castells director of Concurs de Castells, Ester Roca, unveiled the 42 colles taking part and highlighted “the first time both Castellers de Sarrià and Castellers de l’Esquerra de l’Eixample are entering the Concurs in Torredembarra”, as well as the fact that “Castellers de Mollet will perform in TAP’s Saturday event for the first time and Nens del Vendrell and Marrecs de Salt will be back on Sunday”.
The members of the Jury have been selected
On the other hand, the members of the Jury that will look after, evaluate and validate the 3 events of the 29th Concurs de Castells have been determined. For the sixth time, it will be led by castell expert Pere Ferrando Romeu, as requested by the organisation. As in previous editions, the jury of the 29th Concurs de Castells will have 6 extra members suggested by the 6 best colles in the 2022 edition. Thus, the official Jury of Concurs de Castells for 2024 will be:
• Pere Ferrando, President of the jury, requested by the organisation.
• Eloi Miralles, suggested by Castellers de Vilafranca.
• Albert Palau, suggested by Colla Joves Xiquets de Valls.
• Joan Vilaró, suggested by Colla Vella dels Xiquets de Valls.
• Joan Olivan, suggested by la Colla Jove Xiquets de Tarragona.
• Pilar Borrero, suggested by Xiquets de Tarragona.
• Jaume Planas, suggested by Moixiganguers d'Igualada.
Finally, journalist Carles Cortés provided more details on the drawing event due on Wednesday, the 11th of September, which will determine the location in the plaza and order of performance of the colles for the 3 events. The event, which will be held in Teatre Tarragona, will start at 7pm, will be open to the public and aired on Xarxa Audiovisual Local (XAL) and TAC12. Cortès unveiled that the event will be built upon photography, originating from the poster created by Ricard Martínez Teruel, with surprise music adaptations by compositor Llibert Fortuny.
