Villena signs €70,000 and €27,000 fiesta funding deals

Today's essentials (5 key points)

• Villena's town hall held a planning meeting to set the security operation for its September Moros y Cristianos festivities and the earlier romería.
• Open-Meteo forecasts a hot, mostly dry Friday across the Costa Blanca, with highs of 35C in Alicante city and 34C on the southern coast.
• Alicante-Elche airport handled more than 2.3 million passengers in July, up 11.1% on last year, and is on track for a record annual total.
• A public consultation is open on the Monnegre river green-corridor project, and environmental scientists at COAMBCV have filed formal objections.
• Spain's weather agency Aemet warned of temperatures up to 43C in parts of Alicante province, though it expects the extreme heat to ease soon.

Today's essentials

Villena signs €70,000 and €27,000 fiesta funding deals. Villena's mayor Fulgencio Cerdán signed two annual funding agreements on 21 August 2026: €70,000 for the Junta Central de Fiestas de Moros y Cristianos to run September's patron-saint celebrations, and €27,000 for the Junta de la Virgen to cover its ordinary running costs, according to El Periódico.

Weather today

Hot and dry Friday, up to 35C on the Costa Blanca. Open-Meteo forecasts a hot, rain-free day across the Costa Blanca on Friday 21 August 2026, with Alicante city swinging between 24C and 35C.

In Alicante city, Open-Meteo expects a low of 24C and a high of 35C under an overcast sky, with no rain and only a light breeze of up to 15 km/h. The cloud cover will do little to blunt the heat, so keep water on you and stick to the shade through the early afternoon.

Inland around Cocentaina it runs a touch cooler, 21C to 31C under the same grey, dry sky, while the southern coast near Torrevieja stays warm from 25C to 34C, partly cloudy, with a stronger breeze reaching 22 km/h. Early morning or after sunset are the comfortable windows for the beach or a walk.

Transport & traffic

• 12 million passengers: why the Costa Blanca stays a magnet. AlicanteOut frames Alicante-Elche airport passing its twelve-millionth annual passenger back in 2016 as a marker of how firmly tourism underpins the Costa Blanca. That long-run growth is exactly why the airport keeps adding routes and why summer flights home fill up quickly. For residents the practical takeaway is unchanged: book early, because the same pull that makes the coast easy to reach also makes peak-season seats scarce.
• 2.3 million flew through Alicante-Elche in July, up 11.1%. Alicante-Elche airport handled more than 2.3 million passengers in July, an 11.1% jump on the same month a year earlier, the Olive Press reports, citing operator Aena. If that pace holds, the airport is on course to break its annual record. In day-to-day terms that means busier terminals and longer security queues at peak times, so leaving extra margin for check-in is wise, even as reaching Alicante from more European cities has arguably never been easier.

What's changing for you

• Have your say on the Monnegre green corridor. The first phase of a green-corridor project along the río Monnegre is in public consultation, and the Valencian college of environmental scientists (COAMBCV) has already lodged formal objections, according to Información and El Periódico. If you live near the Monnegre and care how the riverside is reshaped, this is the moment to act: the información pública stage is precisely when residents and associations can file their own written comments alongside COAMBCV's. Check the town hall or regional environment portal for the submission window before it closes.
• Dry fountain leaves a San Blas square without its cool corner. The fountain in Plaza del Padre Fontova, in Alicante's San Blas neighbourhood, has run dry, and locals told Información the busy square has lost the coolness it once offered. If it is your local park, the useful move is to report it to the district council or through Alicante's citizen-complaint channel, since a working fountain and shade are what make a square usable through the summer heat rather than a spot to avoid.

Local news to know

• Villena maps out its Moros y Cristianos security plan. Villena's town hall held a planning meeting on 21 August 2026 to set the security operation for its Moros y Cristianos festivities and the earlier romería, according to El Periódico.
• Day trips by boat from Alicante. AlicanteOut rounds up the best places you can reach by boat from Alicante, a reminder that Mediterranean day trips are one of the real perks of basing yourself on the Costa Blanca.
• Aemet flagged up to 43C in Alicante province. Spain's state weather agency Aemet warned of temperatures reaching 43C in parts of Alicante province while signalling that the worst of the extreme heat should soon ease, the Olive Press reports.
• Benidorm blog urges caution in the summer heat. Local blog Life in Benidorm has been urging readers to plan their days around intense heat and the occasional risk of afternoon storms, though for any official alert level it is Aemet, not lifestyle sites, that carries the authority.

Tonight and tomorrow, the Costa Blanca

• A weekend of symphonic and electronic music in Benidorm. Benidorm lines up a mixed programme for the weekend of 21 to 23 August 2026, from symphonic concerts to electronic sets, according to Life in Benidorm.

See the full agenda, tonight and tomorrow