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[title]Ninety years are celebrated not only by looking ahead, but also by pausing. Remembering. Asking what has become of that celebration born in April 1936 in Mendoza, which has now grown into one of the oldest and most widely attended popular festivals in the country.
The National Grape Harvest Festival marks nine decades, and the central event at the Teatro Griego Frank Romero Day will be, more than a show, a staged reflection on its own history. “90 years, a review of what has passed and a door opening to the future,” defines Pablo Perri, director of this anniversary edition titled “90 Harvests from the Same Vine.”
After a new season of departmental and provincial celebrations held throughout the summer, on Saturday, March 7, a unique show will take place along with the election of the new National Queen. The celebration will be repeated on Sunday, March 8. Tickets for both dates are sold out.
Vendimia 2026: A story told differently
The harvest festival always returns to its core themes: the grape harvest, immigration, winemaking labor, and Mendoza’s identity. The challenge, according to Perri, lies in how to tell it.
“The Vendimia has an iconic format. The key to telling the same story over and over is precisely how to do it—how to connect the events and characters, where to research. Because if we speak of Vendimia, it’s impossible not to refer to the work of the vineyard workers, to General José de San Martín, to the Virgen de la Carrodilla, to the people.”
In this edition, with a script by Silvia Moyano, memory becomes literal through two historical figures who return from the past to question the present. For the first time, the protagonists will be Guillermo Cano, governor of Mendoza between 1935 and 1938, and his Minister of Industry, Public Works and Irrigation, Frank Romero Day—both key figures in institutionalizing the festival.
During a trip to Italy, they witnessed vineyard workers celebrating among the vines and decided to bring that spirit back to Mendoza: to replicate the idea of celebrating the new harvest with workers while also promoting Mendoza’s wine to neighboring provinces.
“Unlike previous editions, where Cano and Romero Day came to tell us the history of this festival, this time they arrive from the past to ask us what we have done with Vendimia over all these years. Have its origins been preserved? Does the producer remain the protagonist? Does the festival maintain its popular essence?” explains Perri. This narrative tension gives the production a reflective tone rarely seen in previous years.
A curious fact: Cano only participated in three editions of the festival due to his early death. Romero Day, who conceived the idea of creating the Greek-style amphitheater that now bears his name, never saw the festival staged there—he died in 1950, 13 years before the first celebration was held in the amphitheater.
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What returns to stay in memory
This 90th anniversary edition does not rely solely on novelty; it also revives symbols that defined an era. “The story of the festival is simple yet powerful. It’s original in the way it’s told, but it uses familiar resources because people want to see them again and relive them,” says the director.
The illuminated boxes—cultural heritage of the province—are making a comeback, unfolding across 11 panels over a 600-square-meter surface. Friezes will also return, adding visual depth to the stage. It will all frame a concert featuring more than 50 musicians performing original compositions alongside pieces that dialogue with the emblems that have defined the festival since its beginnings.
The dancing fountains, etched into collective memory, will also return. The costumes reinforce the idea of a living tradition: 70% of what will be seen on stage comes from previous editions, dating back even to 1965 and 1969. For the remaining 30%, designed specifically for this production, 4,862 meters of fabric and 767,760 meters of thread were used.
90 Years of Vendimia: The Weight of a Round Number
“Every Vendimia has its own uniqueness, but round anniversaries take on a special magnitude. For me, it has been a long-awaited challenge. I am a devoted follower of this festival,” Perri confides. He assures that directing an anniversary edition means much more than mounting a show—it requires engaging with nine decades of collective memory.
The scale translates into concrete numbers: more than 750 artists on stage, including dancers, actors, acrobats, and jugglers; a team of 40 directors coordinating technical and artistic areas; thousands of costume pieces; months of rehearsals; and a 2,600-square-meter stage at the Teatro Griego that is already over 80% complete.
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“It’s a one-hour story, and everything is coordinated so that the screens, the illuminated box designs, the friezes, and the performers all make sense,” Perri explains. The National Grape Harvest Festival is not a sum of isolated scenes, but a choreographic, technical, and narrative machine that must function with millimetric precision before thousands of spectators and millions of viewers.
The passion behind the scenes
Beyond the numbers, emotion runs through Perri’s words.“I’m very happy to have been chosen again by a jury. I truly enjoy watching rehearsals, observing the stage, thinking about how the artists will enter. I can’t wait to see the grand production on the night of the central event and to hear what people think afterward—but I also feel a bit melancholy because it goes by so quickly. It’s all mixed emotions,” shares the director of this and the past two editions.
He speaks simply, without grandiosity. Yet that calm contrasts with what the stage promises: a fascinating and moving show that, as he himself says, “moves every particle of the body.”
At 90 years old, the National Grape Harvest Festival in Mendoza not only celebrates its history but also reaffirms the need to pass it on to new generations—and to invite the world to experience it in person. Because it can be described, but its true dimension—the one that moves and brings people together—can only be understood when you are there.