Spanish Quarter Street Festival

The Spanish know how to eat.
They know how to drink.
And they definitely know how to party.



I'm sure that's why the Spanish Quarter Street Festival is such a favourite with Sydneysiders. In the relative infancy of its third year, the flocking crowds consistently surpass organisers' wildest dreams. This was particularly evident last year with suffocating bottlenecks at times and gobsmacking food queues during lunchtime. Thankfully things were markedly improved this year with better spacing and placement of food stalls, and more tables and chairs available for exhausted patrons.

But all these troubles are easily forgotten amongst the colour and vibrancy of the heart-thumping smile-inducing festivities. Accordions and Spanish guitar melodies twirl passionately in the air, bursts of reds and yellows weave in between pressed black trousers and flashes of lace, and the nose twitches with excitement at the promise of chorizo, spicy with heat and seared to a blackened caramelised juiciness.

Sardines are being barbecued, churros are cavorting in mounds of cinnamon sugar, and of course there is paella. Lots of paella.



Lots of paella demands lots of water. You may as well use a bucket.



There was plenty for sale including Spanish trinkets and tapestries:



And did I mention the paella?





I followed the sound of gypsy music and ended up at the Kent Street stage watching the dancers from Te Amo Peru. They were spinning, I was snapping and the crowds behind me were compulsively tapping their feet.



















Click here to see part two of the Spanish Quarter photos.

The third Spanish Quarter Street Festival was held on Sunday 13 November 2005.

This event takes place every November in Sydney's Kent and Liverpool Streets.

Related GrabYourFork posts:
Spanish Quarter Street Festival 2006
Spanish Quarter Street Festival 2005: Part I
Spanish Quarter Street Festival 2005: Part II
Spanish Quarter Street Festival 2005: Part III
Newtown Festival