First there was Notte Bianca, and immediately it was a roaring success. Right from the first time it was held, the crowds piled into Valletta and loved it. OK, there was grumbling that many restaurants had not provided for so much custom and consequently ran out of food almost right at the beginning. There were many people who grumbled about being let down by the public transport system, but maybe that was on another occasion. Anyway, those were the bad old ADT days and nothing extraordinary.

Year after year, Notte Bianca drew crowds, attracted mainly by the music in the squares, the exhibitions, maybe not so much by the museums that were kept open. Thus frustrating one important aim of holding Notte Bianca as it is held, for instance, in mother country Italy.

Then this year, by pure coincidence, they said, Notte Bianca is going to be augmented.

First starting on Friday there is Science in the City, a series of exhibitions based mainly on science, aiming to popularise science and so hopefully interest more schoolchildren to take up science subjects at tertiary level of education.

Many of the exhibits will be outside, in the Valletta streets and squares and many will remain open even during Notte Bianca.

Now, out of the blue, we were informed yesterday there will also be what has been called the Mediterranean Agricultural Fair, which takes place in St George’s Square today and tomorrow.

We think this is bad time management and the three events should have been spread out more. As a result of this, over three days St George Square will go from a square full of agricultural produce today to an exhibition space on science on Friday to a concert venue on Saturday evening. Even a square made of stone could be pardoned for going round the twist.

This is a criticism that is often made – there is little to no coordination on events that attract the public. Sometimes, especially in the past because it has become better recently, the Manoel Theatre would have an event on, only for the Mediterranean Conference Centre to have another crowd-pulling event at the same time. Soon we will also have the open air theatre to compete as well.

Everything tends to be held in Valletta and Valletta itself is hardly made for such events. The events themselves come from three different sectors and the agricultural fair could, for instance, have been held in Ta’ Qali. Ta’ Qali, as was evident not just last week at the PL congress, but also at the many events held under the tent, and as is evident every Sunday afternoon, has become the place where most of Malta likes to go on Sunday afternoons, especially when the weather gets cooler.

The Science event is a very imaginative event with many creative events which have been fitted into Valletta’s squares and spaces. Hopefully, in some years’ time, such an event could be held at Bighi, especially when the proposed interactive science centre is up and running.

As for Notte Bianca, no programme that we know of has been published as such. But the impression one gets is that the cultural aspect has once again been left rather in the background. Will museums remain open till late? Will churches be open? There is an opportunity, which may be going lost, for cultural events to be held in churches which have been recently restored (by the taxpayer) and which most of the time remain closed (such as Tal-Pilar church, if not St James, St Catherine etc).

One understands too there may be two other concerns – that of the fickle October weather which makes planning an outdoor event rather a hazard, and the plethora of events that are being organised by local councils all over the island which have also become very popular.

But still, one would have liked these three events to be spaced out both in time and in place.