The story
Bogota Summer Festival in Bogota
Created by Bogota's recreation and sport institute IDRD and first held in June 1997 under the slogan '100 events in 10 days,' the Festival de Verano now runs each August across the city's park circuit with more than 200 free sports, concert, theatre and family activities, drawing an average of over three million attendees.
Reviving the student parties of the 1960s, rather than launching an entirely new tradition, was the explicit goal behind Bogota's Festival de Verano, created by the city's Instituto Distrital de Recreacion y Deporte, the recreation and sport agency rather than the arts institute behind the al Parque music series, and first staged from June 6th to 15th, 1997 under the slogan '100 events in 10 days.' That distinction in sponsoring agency matters: where Rock al Parque, Jazz al Parque and their sibling festivals are music-genre events run by Idartes, the Festival de Verano is a broader sports, recreation and cultural programme run by IDRD, built to generate civic identity and a stronger sense of belonging among residents rather than to showcase any single art form.