Carnaval à Bléré

Carnival in full swing in the centre of Bléré



Ready to fire the cannon

Today was the biannual carnival for the Canton of Bléré and for this edition the circus was the theme. Starting at around 3pm the parade made its nosiy and spectacular way from la gare at La Croix en Touraine across the River Cher, through Bléré and to the Gatiné just to the east of the centre of the town.

A giraffe on a Bléré road

Photo call before the start

Having a ball before the start

Getting ready

Quartet of giraffes heading towards the start

Smoke signalling the start of the parade



Oi you! Get out of the way!
East bound train passes

Confetti for sale

Buying confetti

Heading over the Cher

Crowd waiting for parade to enter Bléré's main street


Brownies for sale







White rabbit salutes Michel Mergot, maire of Epeigné-les-Bois



Civray's float
On the ball.....

On fire........



@la Gâtine

Epeigné stand@La Gatine

Michel Mergot inspects the Epeigné stand

Filming the spectacle

Dimanche Carnaval à Bleré

Epeigné-les-Bois: The float 2007

A reminder that Sunday afternoon sees the bi-annual Carnaval at Bléré. The procession starts from the station at la Croix en Touraine at 3pm then goes across the Cher and up through Bléré's main shopping street before ending at La Gâtine on the east side of the town. The theme this year is the circus. Hopefully the weather will be kind.

Clowns@the 2007 edition

More information about the carnival here.

Chickens from l’Orléans plus the Bléré Carnival (29th March)

La Nouvelle République today has a report on the poulets fermiers of Orléans. 160 farmers belong to the Orléans chicken farmers' organisation (la Coopérative agricole des fermiers de l'Orléanais). Of a total annual production of 4.3 million chickens – 90% have the label rouge. 36% of the production is in Loir et Cher, with 4% each in Indre-et-Loire and the Cher. In 2007 the organisation was asked to look after the production of the famous Géline de Touraine, the Loire’s finest chicken and on a par with a Poulet de Bresse.

Further information about the Géline and its rescue from extinction can be found here.

Carnival 2007: The Epeigné-les-Bois float

There is also a report on the forthcoming carnival at Blére – Sunday 29th March with a parade starting at 3pm. This is a bi-annual event that involves all the communes around Bléré including Epeigné-les-Bois, Francueil and Luzillé. The previous edition was on 1st April 2007 and certainly worth going to see.

There is now a carnival blog.

2007: Les Blancs: musicians

2007: le roi des cochons

2007: Le roi et la reine

2007: Le roi et la reine encore..................

2007: scenes from the parade

2007: scenes from the parade

2007: for some the excitement was all too much...

More photos of the 2007 Carnival on flickr.