"La Rochelle deserves to have its fair": the president of the Fair-Exhibition calls on the municipal candidates

Thierry Gaillard plans to use the 2026 municipal election campaign to find out everyone's position on the creation of a new exhibition center.

Thierry Gaillard's morale reflects the weather, which ruined a good part of the ^76th edition of the La Rochelle Fair.

However, the head of Expocéan is less angry with Madame Soleil than with Jean-François Fountaine. He criticizes the former mayor of La Rochelle and still president of the urban community for having taken, barely a year after his election in 2014, the decision to close the exhibition center to make way for the new hospital. A decade later, the hospital is finally being considered in the neighboring town of Aytré , the exhibition center site is in disrepair and the Fair-Exhibition is "suffering" in the words of its president.

"It's a real waste," laments Thierry Gaillard. "We could have continued for three years at the exhibition center; it would have been nice to celebrate at least the 80th anniversary of the fair there [in 2029]. Above all, it's a big loss of revenue for the City of La Rochelle. I remind you that the festival committee paid rent of 220,000 euros per year."

With the municipal elections six months away, the president believes the time has come to challenge future candidates from La Rochelle. While not yet declared but close to it, MP Olivier Falorni, who visited the fair on Saturday, September 6, was given a letter—the same one that will be sent to the other candidates—asking for his position on the creation of a new exhibition center. That is, an indoor facility dedicated to major events.

"Not a gym," says Thierry Gaillard. "For a simple reason: if, for example, the La Rochelle basketball team plays in the finals, that will add dates to its calendar. Except that concerts and shows are scheduled a year, or even two years in advance. However, a large multi-purpose hall is different. That's why we need to think about it and start the debate."

The president of Expocean continues to dismiss the Espace Encan option, which was suggested to him by Jean-François Fountaine. "There's only one room there. We can put 50 exhibitors there, but not the 200 we have here. And where do we put the camper vans, in the Aquarium parking lot? Not to mention that Espace Encan, which also has a significant rental cost, has its own dates, since it has taken over some of our events."

The absence of an exhibition center, according to him, deprives Charente-Maritime of a venue that could host, in addition to the fair, events attracting several thousand people , from the Atlantica exhibition - which started in Niort - to large popular shows like "Holiday on Ice", including the darts championship (12,000 players in three days), the Antiques Fair and the Gastronomy Fair. "I would like to thank again the town of Châtelaillon-Plage and its mayor [Stéphane Villain] who welcomed us three years ago," Thierry Gaillard emphasizes. "Without them, the Fair-Exhibition would have already disappeared. Now, if we want it to survive, we have to think about the future."