A traditional regional event : the olive festival

This major event in village life takes place every summer, always on the 3rd weekend of July, lasting all day, from 9 o'clock in the morning until late into the night.

Take a look at the 15th occasion of the festival in 2008

This festival is the high point of the year in Bize-Minervois. Everyone is mobilised to help. There are many visitors to the village for this event.

The event takes place on two sites - in Bize and at Oulibo at Cabezac, where the olive co-operative organises an open-day.

In Bize : shows, conferences, places to eat, a great festival, which welcomes many traders and artisans (vendors of gingerbread, foie gras, goat's cheese, hand-made articles, paintings, wine traders, ...), coming from the whole region. A hundred exhibitors (110 last year) generally return from one year to the next to this village festival, which is now a firm favourite in Bize and the welcoming Midi region.

At Cabezac : the olive co-operative, Oulibo, opens its doors for the whole day for visits and demonstrations of local know-how. There are demonstrations of pruning and grafting olive trees in the co-operative garden, guided tours of the machinery, including the famous olive mill, displays of regional products associated with olive oil, table olives (Lucques, picholines, ...), and home-made products.

For everyone this is an occasion to meet outside of the norm, in a festive atmosphere. This is the summer season in the south of France, always enjoyed: we look for the shade, we amble amongst the stalls, we feast our eyes, and we eat. The atmosphere is a festive one... This is the moment to enjoy the charm of this beautiful day.

Food and wine: a convivial introduction to the Minervois

Many associations in the village take part in the running of the day: the organising committee, of course, the Amis de l'Olivier, as well as Le Recantou, the GAOBS (rugby school), the firemen, the festival committee, the FCBM, the MJC...who set up stalls to provide food and drinks or make products.

The railway timetable:
A single departure from the station in Narbonne in the morning.
Regular round trips from Bize to Cabezac during the day.
Return in the evening from Bize to Narbonne.

The Minervois tourist railway (ATM) volunteers are preparing new expansion projects: also ideas for new open-air carriages have been presented at a meeting of the friends of the olive, along with supporting diagrams.

* In 2008, for the 2nd consecutive year, the Minervois tourist railway will, unfortunately, remain at Narbonne station. The SNCF line between Mirepeisset and Bize is actually impassable for technical reasons, relating to the state of the track.

" We are here in the land of tradition ! " declared the senator, who praised the skill of all the olive producers of the Oulibo co-operative. Roland Courteau pointed to this crop as fully complementary to that of the vine and to fruit and vegetables, and quoted the poet Jean Ferrat: " The Mediterranean diet produces centenarians, and nobody knows why ! "

Roland Courteau reaffirmed one of his beliefs, that he defends constantly in the current debate about wine : " This will continue to be so in France, as long as one can stop the campaigns for the prevention of alcoholism, which systematically turn into an anti-wine campaign, in defiance of the law, and focus for maximum benefit on strong alcohol, the consumption of which leads to alcoholism ". The senator recalled the results of 20 years of scientific research, which showed that, drunk moderately, but regularly, wine is good for health.

Free tastings were spread throughout the day (tapenade, olives, goat, dry sausage and grilled sausage), and each wine-maker presented one or more wines.

Tapenade on toast with the regional producers of Bize-Minervois

There are traditional musical activities in the streets during the day, very diverse stalls in summer colours, technical conferences at Oulibo on the growing of the olive tree... How pleasant to spend time in Bize, in this beautiful Minervois village !

The beret throwing championship of Minervois, by Philippe Assié :

Will the strength of the region, exemplified by the olive tree and the vine, succeed in fully expressing itself in the simple and exciting exercise of throwing the béret ?

The organising committee committed to offer an aperitif of genuine AOC Minervois (in moderation) or a glass of fruit juice to the winner of every category (under 13's, women, men), and a good time for everyone. The bérets to throw will be provided free of charge to the participants.

This competition, which was organised with the help of the Institut d'Estudis Occitans-Aude to do the measurement, has made Occitan the official language of the event.

The words of the songs during the concerts were based on the Occitan language and accompanied by very diverse rhythms and styles, going from traditional to pop-rock.

Open-air concerts, with Occitan groups Rasim d'Oc and Goulamas'k.

Last Updated (Monday, 16 March 2009 15:17)