Keys lost at the Fogueres or the Cristo fiestas: what to do that night

Sant Joan d’Alacant has two big fiesta weeks a year, and both run late into the night.

• The Fogueres de Sant Joan, 20 to 24 June, for the town’s patron, Sant Joan Baptista.
• The fiestas of the Santísimo Cristo de la Paz, 12 to 16 September. In the 2026 programme the peñas paraded on the 12th, with the alborada at midnight; the 13th had the mascletà at two in the afternoon and the correfoc at midnight; the 14th was the day of the Cristo itself, with the procession in the evening; then came the costume parade on the 15th and the floats on the 16th.

Crowds, music, jackets on chairs, bags on the floor of a peña: keys go missing. Here is what to do when they are yours.

Before you call anyone

1. Retrace the last hour. The peña, the bar, the spot where you stood for the fireworks. Ask the people you were with to check their pockets: keys get picked up by the wrong hand.
2. Ask at the peña or the bar. Found keys are often handed in behind a counter.
3. Think about the spare. A relative, a neighbour, the landlord, the person you share with. At one in the morning a phone call to them is cheaper than a locksmith.

Did anything on the ring show where you live?

This is the question that decides how urgent it is.

• Nothing identifying: just keys. Getting in tonight is what matters. The lock can be changed calmly another day, if at all.
• Something with the address: a tag, a fob with the building’s name, a bag with documents. Then the lock should be changed the same night, because whoever has the keys may also know the door.

Getting back through your own door

Ring and say where you are. On fiesta nights some streets are closed or full, so a WhatsApp pin and the nearest open corner help the van reach you. You are given an honest estimate of the drive: busy nights are busy for everyone.

At the door you show that you live there. Then the door is opened, latch first if it was only pulled shut, otherwise through the cylinder. If the cylinder has to be replaced, a new one goes in so the door locks before you go to bed.

Before the next Fogueres

• Keep the house keys in a zipped pocket, not a jacket over a chair.
• Leave a spare with someone who lives nearby.
• Carry nothing on the key ring that shows your address.

If the night ends worse, with a door that someone has forced rather than keys that went missing, the order to do things in after a break-in is the one to read. And if you are staying near the beach rather than in the town, check which San Juan you are in before you give the address.