Rennes (AFP)

The festival of Vielles Charrues, one of the largest musical gatherings in France, announced Friday that it was studying "the possibility of going elsewhere" than in Carhaix (Finistère), a small town in central Brittany which has hosted it since 90s.

"If we can find 100 hectares in Brittany, we will study the possibility of going elsewhere," Jean-Luc Martin, president of the Vieilles Charrues association, told AFP, confirming information from the regional daily Le Télégramme.

"Today, the festival is organized on 85 hectares but we sign an agreement each year with the town hall and each year, we are bitten by small pieces of land," he explained. "A day will come when we will no longer be able to organize the festival because we welcome 80,000 people every day on the site. We want to be sure that we will be able to perpetuate the use of the land for the next 10 years," he added. .

The festival would also like to have permanent facilities (toilets, lighting, electricity) to organize concerts outside the festival dates. "But it's difficult on fields that aren't ours," said Martin.

Negotiations took place with the town hall of Carhaix, which proposed the creation of a mixed economy company (SEM) for the management of the Kerampuilh park, site of the festival, because "it is a place that is used to full associations ", according to Mayor Christian Troadec.

A proposal that "in principle suits us," said Jean-Luc Martin. But the board of directors of Vielles Charrues "spoke out against the memorandum of understanding proposed by the town hall because it did not suit us. There was no trace of the possibility of building on the land", he said.

For Mr. Troadec, "there is always a negotiation possible". "They have no reason to complain, we are living this as an injustice," he added.

And "generally, nobody appreciates blackmail as a negotiating weapon in the middle of an electoral campaign," warned the mayor, also co-founder of the festival.

"It will be better in April," after the municipal elections in March, he added.

The 29th edition of the festival will be held from July 16 to 19, 2020. The last edition of this "100% associative" festival welcomed 270,000 spectators in four days.

© 2020 AFP