The Spanish town of Benidorm celebrated its annual fiesta over the second weekend in November, with the unofficial British Fancy Dress Day attracting upwards of 30,000 partygoers.
The Benidorm Festival, which features street parties, open air theatre, musical events, sporting contests and religious events, honours the town’s two patron saints – the ‘Virgen del Sufragio’ and ‘San Jaime Apóstol’ – and begins on the Friday of the second weekend (this year November 10), ending with a parade of decorated floats and a firework display the following Wednesday.
The day after the fiesta – Thursday 15 November – is now known as British Fancy Dress Day and has become one of the most anticipated events in the fiesta calendar.
The tradition of British Fancy Dress Day reportedly started more than two decades ago when Sinatras Club offered a free drink to anyone in fancy dress. Now it typically sees more than 30,000 people line the streets in costume, with a record-breaking 40,000 joining the fun in 2016.
Boxing legend Ricky Hatton was at this year’s event and joined in with celebrations, posting a video of himself dressed up as an Irishman on top of a leprechaun on his Twitter account, which currently has over 23,000 views.
Also at this year’s celebration, a a group of holidaymakers dressed up as ‘Manchester Bees’ and sung Don’t Look Back in Anger, the Oasis hit which became a symbol of Manchester’s strength and resilience following the attack at the Manchester Arena in May earlier this year.
