Written by Demi Perera
What a week of great entertainment, music and ce-
lebrations. The Gibraltar Calling Music festival was
a fabulous way to start the festivities, the atmos-
phere was outstanding. It was great to see people
coming together in such large quantities and having
a good old time.
On the organization side of things in this year
Gibraltar Calling Music Festival, they offered a
wide variety of changes in relation to sustainability.
Vegan and vegetarian options were on offer in the
food department along with upgrades in culinary
materials. Paper and cardboard were used instead
of using plastic for everything. Plastic straws were
not used and when plastic was used, it wasn’t for
single use. The plastic cups that were given out,
would be as a buy one cup and use it every time
you would want to refill. The promotion of this was
plastered along every wall inside the venue with
quotes of #refillnotlandfill…it’s got quite a ring to
it I must say.
That’s not all ; Aqua Gib Ltd supplied all the events
with six water refill stations, offering easy access to
portable drinking water. As a substitute for plastic
bottles cartons of water were on sale. This has a
huge impact when eliminating plastic waste. The-
se standards were consistent throughout all the 3
major events. On entering the event you were given
entry bracelet bands that were made from non-har-
mful materials. These bands were made from satin
cloth and clutched by a wooden stopper, a better
alternative to using plastic bands.
Gibraltar National day, celebrated annually on
10th September, is the official national day of the Bri-
tish overseas territory of Gibraltar. This day comme-
morates Gibraltar’s first referendum of 1967, in which
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Gibraltarians voted to remain under British sovereign-
ty. The first National day was held on September 10th
1992, the 25th anniversary of the referendum.
In the days leading up to the celebrations, Gibral-
tar is decorated with flags. Flags on balconies, cars,
Moorish Castle, Main Street, everywhere. There are
many traditions we look forward to every year but
due to environmental factors traditions have had to
be amended and revamped such as the release of
30,000 balloons, which represented the population
of Gibraltar. This has been replaced by using paper
confetti and other recyclable cable materials.
There are parties all over the place, with Main
Street being a particular draw. Hundreds of Gibralta-
rians swam the streets in their prideful red and whi-
te outfit. Many Gibraltarians start their celebrations
throughout different beaches in Gibraltar. Family,
friends, food, drinks, sun, sea and banter its just
what you need.
This year the main National week entertainment
events took place at our new Europa Point Stadium
with the most beautiful backdrop of the Medite-
rranean Sea. An advantage of this new wonderful
venue and open space is that the sound pollution
mainly travelled out toward the Mediterranean Sea.
Sound disturbance of the events should not be a pro-
blem to those not celebrating.
Well done to the organizers and everyone that
made these events possible.
I look forward to seeing more changes for our
future of celebrations to protect our precious envi-
ronment. Cannot wait to see what the 2020 Gibraltar
Calling Festival looks like, it has become quite a tra-
dition and has now acquired an International profile
making Gibraltar proud.
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