Special Feature: “This Week in Uzès“
Every August, something very strange happens in Uzès. It starts with music drifting through the streets. Then the first creature appears. Not a person in costume. A creature. It’s Uzès Fête Votive!
One year, giant insects wandered through the neighborhood. They didn’t just parade down the main boulevard. They came down my street, filling it with music, whimsy, and just enough weirdness to make you wonder what you’d stumbled into.
Performers on stilts peered down from impossibly high above the crowd. Elongated arms—or were they feelers?—reached toward spectators. Acrobats hung upside down from enormous mechanical creations that seemed to have arrived from another world.
For a little while, medieval Uzès didn’t feel medieval at all.
More Than a Parade
The French call it the Pégoulade. It opens the annual Fête Votive, one of Uzès‘ biggest weekends of the year. The name comes from the Provençal word pegoul, referring to the pitch-soaked torches once carried through nighttime processions centuries ago. Those simple torchlit parades gradually evolved into illuminated nighttime celebrations across parts of southern France.
But Uzès has made the tradition its own.
Rather than repeating the same parade every year, the organizers create an entirely new production. New theme. New costumes. New floats. New performers. That’s what keeps everyone guessing. No one knows what’s coming until the first float turns the corner.
The Year Giant Insects Took Over Uzès
I’ve seen several Pégoulades over the years, but the one I still compare all the others to was in 2015.
Inspired by the award-winning French film Microcosmos, the parade transformed tiny insects into giant moving works of art. A massive mechanical insect crawled through the streets with musicians performing from platforms attached to its sides. Giant bees mingled with the crowd while acrobats twisted and turned high overhead.
It was whimsical, slightly creepy, and completely unforgettable. The part I remember most wasn’t the boulevard. It was watching these enormous creatures wander down ordinary residential streets. For a little while, my neighborhood became part fantasy, part theatre, and part street party.
Who Dreams This Stuff Up?
Every year I find myself wondering the same thing: Who imagines this? Who builds it? Who pays for it?
Creating a parade like this takes artists, designers, engineers, musicians, performers and countless volunteers. The Pégoulade is organized by the Comité des Fêtes with support from the City of Uzès, local organizations and sponsors, and it has become one of the town’s signature events.
While other towns in Provence and the Gard have their own Pégoulades, Uzès has earned a reputation for imagination. Every summer brings a completely different spectacle, which means even longtime residents have no idea what’s coming until the music starts and the first float appears.
This Year’s Parade
The Pégoulade opens the 2026 Fête Votive on Friday evening, August 7.
This year’s theme is Journey of Fantastic Beasts. That means the giant insects have long since disappeared, replaced by whatever the organizers have dreamed up this time.
One thing is certain. For one night, Uzès will become wonderfully weird once again.
That’s Just the First Night
The Fête Votive continues for four days with Camargue bull events, horses, music and celebrations across Uzès. You can read more about the famous bulls in the streets in It’s Fête Votive in Uzès! The Bulls Are Here!
