Close to 800 people belonging to France's evangelical Traveller community have settled into the Grand Pré at Levens, a village in the hills roughly 25 kilometres north of Nice, since the start of July, with around 180 caravans occupying the site for their annual month-long summer gathering, according to ICI Nice.
The group belongs to the Mission Évangélique des Tziganes de France, also known as Vie et Lumière, an evangelical Christian association of around 130,000 members that travels through southern France each summer to hold services and gatherings. The Alpes-Maritimes préfecture requisitioned the Grand Pré site for their stay, as it has in previous years.
Hosting the group costs the Métropole Nice Côte d'Azur around 80,000 euros, according to Levens mayor Antoine Véran. "We have to add two transformers, water connections, and household waste needs collecting," he said, while pushing for a fairer distribution of Traveller hosting duties across the department. "It's French law that isn't being applied in the Alpes-Maritimes," he said, referring to the Besson law's requirement that departments provide designated stopping areas, which the Alpes-Maritimes has yet to establish.
The stay has proven a boost for local business. Nathalie, who runs the village tobacconist, said trade had picked up noticeably. "There's been an increase in the population, so there are people buying scratch cards and cigarettes, so I'm ordering more," she said. At the village bakery, manager Sabrina said she had doubled production to keep up with demand.