Rijeka Carnival 2026 in Rijeka and the campaign „The people who make the carnival“: the story of Sandra Picco and the Draga maskers

Rijeka Carnival 2026: „The people who make the carnival“ bring the focus back to those who live the Fifth Season all year long

Rijeka enters its recognizable Fifth Season again this year with an emphasized message: the carnival is not only parades, music, and colorful scenography, but above all the people who create it anew – in workshops, community halls, garages, volunteer fire brigades, and at rehearsals that begin as soon as the curtains fall on the previous season. That is precisely why Rijeka Carnival 2026 introduces the personalized communication campaign „The people who make the carnival“, which puts carnival participants and the communities that keep the tradition alive 365 days a year in the foreground.

The campaign is additionally „tangible“ through a photo exhibition set on pedestals on Korzo, opened on 8 January 2026, and can be viewed until 16 January 2026. The exhibition does not show only costumes and masks, but portraits and stories – those behind the scenes – of people who find identity, a creative outlet, and a strong sense of belonging in the carnival. For visitors who come to Rijeka from other parts of Croatia or abroad, this is also a good moment to plan arrival and stay, including accommodation offers in Rijeka in the periods of the most important carnival events.

Faces of the campaign: four different worlds, one shared passion

At the center of the campaign this year are representatives of four carnival groups and different carnival „micro-worlds“: Dino Dolušić from the Zamet bell ringers, Sandra Picco from the Draga maskers, Dora Pilepić from the group Full and drunk, and Leo Rudan from the Lumber club Opatija. Each of them explains the carnival from their own perspective, but the common thread is clear: behind a single Sunday parade stand months of work, handmade creation, agreements, and organization, often without spotlights and without an audience – until the moment when Korzo turns into a stage.

This season, the first in the series of presented stories is that of Sandra Picco, the long-time president of the Draga maskers, a Rijeka-born local and a person who describes the carnival as a state that lasts all year, and not as a short period on the calendar.

Sandra Picco: carnival as a lifestyle, and the community as the foundation

For Sandra Picco, the carnival is not „from–to“. It is emotion, habit, responsibility, and love for Rijeka and the Kvarner tradition that is passed on at home, at work, and in social life. Professionally, she is connected to education – she works as a primary school teacher at Primary School Bakar, Branch School Krasica – and she experiences her profession as a calling in which the greatest value is measured years later, when former pupils reach out to her with a smile and gratitude.

In parallel, she is strongly connected to firefighting and the activities of the Škrljevo Volunteer Fire Department, where the emphasis is placed on solidarity, team spirit, and readiness to help when it is most needed. In that combination – the classroom and the volunteer fire brigade – it is easy to see patterns that also carry over to the carnival: discipline, organization, care for others, and the feeling that a shared result is built from small, everyday steps.

Carnival passion, in Sandra’s case, does not stop at her personal story: she has, according to available information, „infected“ the family as well, which participates in the customs with equal enthusiasm, accepts carnival obligations, and experiences them as part of identity, and not as a casual amusement.

Draga maskers: do-it-yourself, from idea to costume and choreography

The Draga maskers are recognizable for the fact that they do most of the work themselves: they devise costumes, cut, sew, make props, put together choreographies, and prepare a performance that looks easy on Korzo – although behind it there are months of work. Sandra has been in the group almost from the beginning, and at the moment when Sandi Pribanić became the Master of Rijeka Carnival, she took over the function of association president, after years in which she was his close collaborator and reliable „right hand“.

In the carnival world where creativity and performance are often competed in, the Draga maskers have also recorded recognitions over the years. According to available data, the group has won awards, had a first runner-up, and at the jubilee 40th Rijeka Carnival also the title of Queen. But in conversations within carnival communities, the same thought is often repeated: awards are nice, but the greatest value is the feeling that the community stands behind what it does – and that the tradition is not interrupted.

The carnival does not stop: preparations start as soon as the previous season ends

„For me the carnival never stops“ – a sentence that runs through as an explanation of the entire system of work. In the Croatian Home Draga, where they gather, ideas are born with socializing, laughter, and planning that often starts from a simple detail such as a color or a combination of materials. Each member can propose a theme, but the final word most often belongs to those who for months carry the largest part of the work in their hands – volunteers who cut and sew costumes so that on the day of the parade everything looks harmonious and „ready for Korzo“.

At the same time, the male part of the team works on allegorical floats, constructions, and technical solutions that must be stable, safe, and functional in movement, and the neighborhood joins in in its own way – with food, hot drinks, and logistics. In that network of details, the carnival stops being a project of one association and becomes a project of the community.

That is why guests who plan to come are advised to organize their stay in time, especially around the announced central events, when increased interest and higher occupancy of the city and surroundings are expected, including accommodation near Korzo and the event venues.

Emotion on parade day: a new season begins with „tears of joy“

When the peak of the season approaches, all that work „settles“ into one image: about a hundred costumed people gathered around the floats, just before stepping out in front of the audience. Sandra describes these as moments in which emotions become hard to control, because then it becomes clear that every costume has passed through someone’s hands, that hundreds of hours are woven into it, and that behind the mask there is a story of the whole team.

The carnival, in her words, gives people a sense of belonging and freedom – an opportunity to be whatever they want, at least for one day. In the multitude of costumes it is hard to single out the „favorites“, but a special place is held by characters and themes that marked past seasons, such as Šiz-tirkiz, Alone in paradise, Fire, Ladybug, Enigma, Dragula, „Ne delaj vali“ and „The Draga dragons“. When she sums up her carnival spirit in one word, the answer is simple: positivity. And the local saying that best describes Rijeka’s maskers remains strong and recognizable: „Krepat ma ne molat!“

Rijeka Carnival as the city’s identity: tradition, bell ringers, and the European context

Rijeka Carnival has for decades been described as one of the most significant carnival events in Europe and a strong symbol of the city. In its structure, urban carnival, satire, and stage performances are combined with indigenous customs of the Kvarner hinterland, among which bell ringers hold a special place. The tradition „Annual carnival bell ringers’ pageant from the Kastav area“ has been inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, which further confirms that carnival culture in Kvarner is not only entertainment but also heritage that is passed on and preserved.

The City of Rijeka, in its official descriptions, also highlights the growth of the event through the decades – from a few groups in the beginning to more than a hundred groups and a five-digit number of participants, with an audience that today follows it both live and via broadcasts. In the same context, it is also stated that Rijeka was admitted in 1995 to full membership in the Federation of European Carnival Cities (FECC), which speaks to the event’s international reputation.

What the 2026 program brings: key dates from January to March

The 2026 carnival season in Rijeka has clearly marked peaks, but also a series of events that „stretch“ the Fifth Season across several weeks.

Announced key dates include:

• 8 – 16 January 2026: the exhibition „The people who make the carnival“ on Korzo
• 17 January 2026 at 12:00: the handover of the City key on Korzo, the symbolic start of carnival „rule“
• 23 January 2026 at 20:00: the election of the Queen of Rijeka Carnival at the Youth Hall
• 31 January 2026 at 12:00: the Children’s carnival parade on Korzo
• 15 February 2026 at 12:00: the International carnival parade on Korzo, the central event of the season
• 19 February – 5 March 2026: the program „Smiling faces of the carnival“ on Korzo

The program also lists the „Draga column“ in Sušačka Draga on 10 January 2026 at 9:30, which shows that carnival energy does not stay only in the city center, but spreads through neighborhoods and local communities as well. It is precisely in those „local formats“ that what the campaign „The people who make the carnival“ wants to emphasize is often best seen: the carnival is a network of smaller communities that carry it on their backs.

For visitors who want to catch more than one parade and experience Rijeka and its surroundings in a full carnival rhythm, it is useful to plan arrival according to the schedule and to check in advance accommodation offers for carnival visitors, especially on weekends when the biggest crowds are expected.

„Masked bocce“ and events of the Draga maskers: a tradition built from within

Along with participation in the central city events, the Draga maskers also develop their own programs that combine customs, humor, and local sociability. In cooperation with the Bocce Club „Draga“, a masked bocce tournament is held, listed in the Rijeka Carnival program for 18 January 2026 from 9:00 at the Bocce Club Draga. According to announcements from the carnival environment, participants there are awaited by elements typical of Kvarner hospitality – a welcome drink, an organized lunch, and prizes for the most successful, with an important message that the carnival is lived also through small, shared rituals.

A special place in the identity of the Draga maskers is held by the „Draga column“, a traditional event whose conceptual core, according to available information, is linked to Sandra Picco. The column was launched a quarter of a century ago to revive old customs, and even today it passes through the village with song, dance, and joy. In such moments the carnival stops being a „program“ and becomes an encounter: locals come out to windows and thresholds, welcome the maskers, and in a few hours the feeling of togetherness comes alive that in everyday life often remains covered by obligations.

The broader picture: culture, tourism, and the local economy

Rijeka Carnival is not only a cultural event; it is also a strong tourist magnet and a logistical undertaking that brings a larger number of visitors to the city. Experiences from previous years show that through the carnival season interest in hospitality, city offerings, and accommodation increases, and the city gains strong media visibility. Reports from the previous season state that in the International parade more than a hundred groups participated and almost 11 thousand participants, which speaks to the scale and potential of the event.

In that framework, the campaign „The people who make the carnival“ has additional weight: it reminds that big numbers and spectacular scenes do not happen by themselves. Behind them stand carnival workshops, tailoring skills, constructions of allegorical floats, agreements with neighborhoods, humanitarian actions and, perhaps most importantly, the willingness to do something without a guarantee that anyone will see all the effort – until the moment when the parade starts.

Rijeka in the Fifth Season: an invitation that does not promise, but opens doors

In Rijeka, during the carnival, the same thought is often repeated: maskers are an opportunity for the city to be what it is – open, ironic, creative, and free. The campaign that accompanies the season this year does not ask the audience to „admire“ only the big scenes, but to get to know the people who hold the carnival together: teachers, volunteers, firefighters, seamstresses, float builders, children who put on a mask for the first time, and veterans who return to the same ritual every year.

For those planning to come, the choice of dates will depend on whether they want to experience the children’s parade on 31 January 2026, the election of the Queen on 23 January 2026, or the central International parade on 15 February 2026. On Korzo, one does not only „watch“ a parade – one feels the energy of a city that, at least briefly, lives without brakes and without restraint. And when in that crowd and joy the word „positivity“ is spoken, it is easy to understand why Sandra Picco and the Draga maskers do not experience the carnival as a season, but as a way of life – and why Rijeka will in 2026 again invite everyone to be whatever they want, at least for one day.

Sources:

• Rijeka Tourist Board (Visit Rijeka) – official program of Rijeka Carnival 2026. ( link )
• Rijeka Tourist Board (Visit Rijeka) – article about the campaign and the story of Sandra Picco ( link )
• HRT Radio Rijeka – report on the exhibition „The people who make the carnival“ on Korzo ( link )
• Novi list – feature report on the exhibition and the campaign „The people who make the carnival“ ( link )
• City of Rijeka – official page with an overview and context of Rijeka Carnival ( link )
• UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage – „Annual carnival bell ringers’ pageant from the Kastav area“ ( link )
• Kanal Ri – report on the scale of the previous season (number of groups and participants, with statements from the Tourist Board) ( link )