The 2020 edition
- Date: 26 Jan 2020
- Location: Valls (Tarragona)
- Edition: 39th Gran Festa de la Calçotada
A weekend that opened the high season
ACN's report at the time estimated around 40,000 visitors. It presented the festival as the symbolic start of peak calçotada season, within a season running from November to April. The festival date should therefore not be read as the first day calçots were available.
The same report included an IGP production forecast of around eighteen million units for that campaign. It was an expectation of the sector in January 2020, not a final sales report. This agricultural perspective helps relate the urban celebration to the production that supplied restaurants, shops and family gatherings.
Documentation: ACN / Catalan News: Peak of calçots season kicks off with hope to sell 18m
Creative cuisine on Saturday, tradition in the squares on Sunday
The sixth Calçot Gastronomic Day on Saturday brought together proposals such as calçot croissants, pizza with botifarra and empanadas that combined calçots, mushrooms and sausage. TAC12 also documented the appointment of pastry chef Christian Escribà as Amic de l’Autèntica Calçotada. The festival thus showed that the product could inspire preparations other than the traditional grill.
On Sunday, local coverage described sauce and cooking demonstrations, and the parade with the Gegant del Calçot and elements of the Valls procession. The contrast between these scenes explains the variety of the day: watching how the food is cooked, recognizing the festive characters and trying the product were complementary ways of participating.
Documentation: TAC12: about 40,000 people enjoy the Gran Festa 2020
The 2020 contest: 200 calçots and 2,495 grams
The official record identifies Adrià Wegrzyn as the winner, with 200 calçots and 2,495 grams. The press once again placed the contest among the most attention-grabbing moments of the festival. The record was below the 2018 record, a difference that reminds us that not all victories imply a new historical mark.
The regulation included in the 2020 brochure established 45 minutes and calculated the net consumption from the initial weight of the calçots and the remains at the end. It is an essential detail to interpret the results: the number of units counts for part of the test, while the classification uses the weight consumed.
Documentation: Organisation: historical record of the calçots eating contest · La Vanguardia: Five calçots per minute · Programme of the 2020 organising committee, copy in Capital2020
The layout before the new tasting area
The programme placed the collection of the tastings in El Pati and distributed tables throughout different squares and streets. The cooking demonstrations took place in the Plaça de l'Oli. It is the map of a stage prior to the transfer of the tasting to the Societat Agrícola, documented in 2023.
The January 2020 edition was held. It is important to specify this because some subsequent communication confuses its date with the interruption of the pandemic. The original programme and the chronicles published that same weekend allow us to reconstruct the sequence: festival in 2020, suspension in 2021 and return in 2022.
Documentation: Programme of the 2020 organising committee, copy in Capital2020 · ACN / Catalan News: Peak of calçots season kicks off with hope to sell 18m
A look at the 2020 programme
Selection of documented activities from that edition.
Calçots cooking demonstrations
Plaça de l’Oli
Grower and sauce-making competitions
Plaça del Blat
Parade of the Great Festival
Exit from Plaça del Blat
35th Calçots Eating Contest
El Pati
Awards ceremony
El Pati
2020 edition programme (PDF) ↗
Programme of the organising committee, copy preserved in Capital2020; It is not hosted on the festival domain.
Explore more of the festival
Learn about the calçots eating contest and check its record →
Check the next edition of 2027 and discover the calçotada restaurants from Valls and Alt Camp.
Sources and documentation
- Programme of the 2020 organising committee, copy in Capital2020 ↗
- ACN / Catalan News: Peak of calçots season kicks off with hope to sell 18m ↗
- TAC12: about 40,000 people enjoy the Gran Festa 2020 ↗
- La Vanguardia: Five calçots per minute ↗
- Organisation: historical record of the calçots eating contest ↗
Information reviewed on 22 October 2026.