Urgell Baking & Tasting Fair — May 16–17

Tàrrega will host Firacóc 2026 on May 16 and 17 at Espai MerCAT, according to the city council’s events listings and tourism pages. The fair is billed as the 38th Aplec del Cóc and bakery products showcase, focused on coca de recapte, cóc urgellenc and other artisan baked goods from the Urgell area and wider Catalonia. City officials have folded the event into Tàrrega’s Festa Major de Maig, which runs from May 9 to May 17. Gourmenials also lists the weekend as part of its May gastronomy agenda in Catalonia. ### When does the fair open, and where is it being held? May 16 is scheduled from 6 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. at Espai MerCAT in Plaça de les Nacions sense Estat, according to Tàrrega’s Festa Major program. The city’s event page says the fair continues on May 17 at the same venue. Tàrrega’s broader Festa Major listing places Firacóc among the weekend’s headline public events, alongside concerts, parades and other civic celebrations. (tarrega.cat) The location matters because Espai MerCAT has become the city’s regular venue for the fair and for food-focused programming tied to local promotion, according to the municipal tourism page. ### What exactly is Firacóc showing visitors? (tarrega.cat) Firacóc is presented by Tàrrega’s tourism office as a large public showcase dedicated to coca de recapte, cóc urgellenc and other traditional bakery recipes. The city describes the event as a tasting-led gathering where bakers and pastry makers present both savory and sweet specialties. More than 20 exhibitors are expected at the 2026 edition, according to the city council homepage and the May 13 municipal notice. (tarrega.cat) The city says the exhibitors will bring a broad range of artisan bakery products, continuing a format that in 2025 drew thousands of visitors and vendors from across the Lleida area and the rest of Catalonia. ### Why is this fair tied so closely to Urgell? (turisme.tarrega.cat) Tàrrega is the capital of the Urgell comarca, and the fair’s signature products are rooted in local baking traditions, especially the region’s savory and sweet cocas. The tourism page identifies cóc urgellenc by name, linking the fair directly to the comarca’s food identity rather than to a generic street-food market. (tarrega.cat) The municipal program also places Firacóc inside the city’s Festa Major de Maig, a civic celebration held in honor of local patron figures, which gives the fair a fixed place in Tàrrega’s annual calendar. That link to the town festival helps explain why the event mixes tasting, retail sales and public foot traffic rather than operating as a trade-only food show. (turisme.tarrega.cat) ### Who is organizing it this year? Tàrrega’s Regidoria de Promoció Econòmica, or economic promotion department, is organizing Firacóc 2026, according to the city’s event materials. The department has used the fair as a platform to promote local commerce and bakery producers in previous editions, and the 2026 listings keep that structure in place. (tarrega.cat) The city’s homepage says the fair is meant to promote coca de recapte and other sweet and savory specialties. Gourmenials’ inclusion of the event in its Catalonia gastronomy agenda adds an outside promotional channel, but the operational details published so far come from Tàrrega’s own municipal pages. ### What should a visitor know before going? Espai MerCAT is the venue named across the city’s event pages, and the fair is listed as an in-person public event rather than a ticketed conference or reservation-only tasting. (tarrega.cat) The available municipal listings do not indicate an admission charge in the event summaries now online. May 17 is the next key date: Tàrrega’s Sunday Festa Major program includes Firacóc alongside the 37th gathering of giants and big-head figures, orchestra performances and a fireworks display. (tarrega.cat) Updated practical details are being published on Tàrrega’s event calendar and on Gourmenials’ Catalonia gastronomy agenda. (tarrega.cat) (tarrega.cat)