Rebecca Palacios |
Logroño, Jun 11 (EFE).- The acting mayor of Logroño, Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza, has dedicated this Sunday, the feast of San Bernabé, his last “banderazos” to the Social Services of the City Council, the hospitals of the hostels of the Camino from Santiago and the city of Logroño.
Due to the pandemic, Hermoso de Mendoza could not give the “flags” of 2020 and 2021, and in the last of his term he wanted to share that of the Revellín wall with the popular Conrado Escobar, mayor-elect after the municipal elections of 28 of May.
This gesture has received warm applause from the large audience gathered next to the Revellín, where the traditional procession through the streets of the Old Town of Logroño has finished, first passed through water and under intense sun in the last stretch.
The delegation, headed by the Municipal Corporation, has also had the presence of the acting presidents of the La Rioja Government, Concha Andreu, and of the regional Parliament, Jesús María García, among other authorities, who have accompanied the images of San Bernabé and the Virgen de la Esperanza, the two patron saints of the city.
Memory for Carmen Tamayo
The first of the “banderazos” has been in Portales street under the San Bernabé arch, in front of the Palacio de los Chapiteles, former headquarters of the Logroño City Council, enlivened by the Contradanza group.
At this point, Hermoso de Mendoza has reminded “the people who, even more so in times of pandemic, have been helping the people who need it most: the more than 80 workers of the municipal Social Services.”
Thus, he has cited social workers, psychologists, social educators, administrative assistants and concierges, who “are always anonymous when they are most needed by the most fragile and vulnerable people, in good times and in bad”.
He has also dedicated this gesture to the director of Social Services, Carmen Tamayo, “who for more than 40 years has symbolized loyalty to public service and the good values that a worker of this City Council treasures and fulfils”.
Hospitallers, guardian angels
Afterwards, the procession has moved towards the Amós Salvador square, where it has stopped to listen to the hymn of San Bernabé sung by Carlos Miguel and the Rondalla School.
After going through Avenida de Viana, the procession headed down Calle Marqués de San Nicolás, up to its confluence with Calle Mercaderes, at the corner known as “Cuatro cantones”, where the Corporation greeted Carmen Tamayo, present among the large audience .
In this place, the acting mayor has offered his second “big banner” to the hospitaleros who “take care like guardian angels, anonymously, of the pilgrims who walk here and, coming from all over the world, spend a few days in the municipal shelter.
On his way up Calle Mayor, the Corporation has stopped next to the Valvanera gastronomic society, where its members have offered them a glass of wine, so Hermoso de Mendoza has taken the opportunity to share a toast with Escobar.
Gesture with Escobar
The recreationists, dressed as the defenders of the city, have cleared the way for the procession, which has reached Parliament Square, where they have been received with a performance by the Logroño Dance Group, before the Bishop of Calahorra and La Calzada-Logroño, Santos Montoya, has blessed the bread, the fish and the wine.
Under the arch of the Revellín, Hermoso de Mendoza has offered the third and last of the “flags” of this legislature accompanied by Escobar, with whom he wanted to “share” this act, which has received warm applause from the public.
In homage to the mayor-elect, “and to all those who believe in the democratic spirit, harmony, respect and education”, Hermoso de Mendoza has dedicated his “great banner” “to the people of Logroño, the city of Logroño and its future”, after which He has posed for the photographs holding onto Escobar.
Afterwards, the entire entourage enjoyed bread, fish and wine, of which the Fish Brotherhood has distributed some 26,000 portions this year to fulfill the vow of San Bernabé and in memory of how the people of Logroño ate during the siege of the French troops.