The Regent Street Festival 2006, A Walk Through Spain, which took place on Sunday 3 September 2006, exceeded all expectations with over 500,000 people visiting the world-renowned shopping street. The festival was sponsored by the Spanish Tourist Office and the Regent Street Association and was the first in the festival’s seven year history to be organised in conjunction with an outside sponsor.
Throughout the day, Regent Street was closed to traffic, enabling festival-goers to quite literally walk through Spain. Fourteen regions - Andalusia, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Castile-Leon, Green Spain Asturias, Basque Country, Cantabria, Galicia, Catalonia, La Rioja, Madrid, Murcia, Navarre and Valencia- participated, each taking over a stretch of the street.
Highlights included: the famous Castellers - human towers of over 300 people were built several times throughout the day following Catalan tradition; traditional Flamenco dancing from Andalucia; magic carpet rides over Navarre; sandcastle competitions from Murcia; from the Balearic Islands a magnificent equestrian display of eight beautiful and highly-trained horses, bringing to life the Fiesta de Sant Joan in Menorca; traditional arts and crafts from Green Spain; a mini go-kart racing track from Castile-Leon; regional dancing, wine skin and barrel makers from La Rioja; two gigantic freshly-made paellas from Valencia; a beach from Benidorm, complete with sand sculptor; a recreation of Madrid’s Plaza Mayor; Carnival Queens, a cigar roller exotic freshly squeezed fruit juices from the Canary Islands and much more…
As well as al fresco dining and entertainment throughout the day, there was much going on in-store as well, with many of the Regent Street retailers such as Habitat, Austin Reed, Hawes and Curtis, Jaeger, Timberland and Brooks Brothers joined forces with the regions, providing in-store entertainment and promotions.
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