Castelló (EFE).- The mayoress of Castelló, Amparo Marco, is “extremely proud” of how the Fiestas de la Magdalena are taking place, celebrations with record numbers, for which she has promised to continue fighting to have them declared an Asset of Interest Cultural in order to achieve the visibility “that they deserve”.
In an interview with EFE, Marco takes stock of the festive week in which the city celebrates its founding festivities, which end this Sunday and are marked by enormous public participation and good weather.
The more than 250 acts included in the program have had the support of the public, with special mention to the Romeria de Les Canyes, in which 185,000 people participated, a significant number since the city has 172,000 inhabitants.
Marco explained that since 2012, the year in which the participation of the Romeria is counted, this year’s has been the highest figure, and before that year, “not so many people had attended.”
Record numbers have also been recorded in other acts such as concerts such as the Remember concert with 15,000 people or in the Multicolor Arena with 3,500 people. “You just have to go out and see how the city is,” says the mayoress, who recounts that the queen of the Fiestas herself, Selene Tarín, told her that from “the float you could see the city and it was full, full.”
La Magdalena, an “oxygen ball” for the economy
Some festivities that, according to the mayoress, are also a “ball of oxygen” for the city’s economy because these celebrations, declared of International Tourist Interest, represent an “economic shock”, in which the City Council invests 1.4 million euros, but with a “much higher” return because a hotel occupancy of around 90% is being registered in the city.
The mayoress adds that at these festivities the visitors, and the residents themselves, have seen the result of the remodeling of Avenida de Lidón, “after so much absurd and useless controversy”.
The pedestrianization of this road, he clarifies, “was approved in 2007 when the PP governed and the PSPV-PSOE voted in favour”, so “one has to be consistent and coherent with the decisions one makes”, and a decision that in that moment “did not have any allegations” it has been a project that “has totally transformed the city” and has “humanized” it.
Thus, the people who have been able to see the result “realized that the only thing the City Council and the municipal government wanted was to improve the city and the quality of life.”
What Castelló is doing, he adds, “is not different from what many Spanish cities with governments of different political persuasions are doing.” In Madrid and Barcelona, he explains, “the same transformation that is marking Europe is taking place.”
And the European funds, he clarifies, “are not destined for anything, but for digital transformations and sustainability.” In this sense, he indicates that the consistory “is making an extraordinary effort” to capture these funds. “We are leaders in the execution of European funds at a national level, a reference in Brussels and at a national level”, he values.
modernized harmonicas
Thus, returning to the festivities, he assures that the gaiata itself has been modernizing in recent years, and he remembers that time when they were connected to the light poles with long cables. The monument itself has been modernized with leds, with water, with movement and the motors that “have been changing and little by little they are modernizing”.
In addition, in line with the design of the winning gaiata, the 6 Farola-Ravalet by the artist Vanesa Pérez, Amparo Marco claims that women “have a fundamental role in the ‘mon de la festa’ and have to occupy other positions within the festive organizations themselves, beyond being queens and ladies, which is a fundamental role, but also in the organizations in which we see more and more female presidents and more gaiatera artists”.
The mayoress also extols the “uniqueness and value of the Fiestas de la Magdalena”, although she admits that “sometimes they overlap with the Fallas, which are celebrated not only in Valencia but in so many towns, also in the province of Castellón, and “they cover our singular and unique parties”, which “are not held anywhere else”.
Objective: Magdalena BIC, the same as Fallas and Fogueres
Regarding the declaration of Asset of Cultural Interest, the file that makes all the Fiestas de la Magdalena BIC, like the Fallas and the Fogueres, will “elevate us and make us more visible” for which “we have to make an effort even bigger,” he defends.
And that is where the mayoress is, “the first to bring a gaiata to Fitur and was a benchmark and a revulsion, and we have to get it out more so that it can be seen,” according to Amparo Marco. As an example, this year Escala a Castelló will also have a gaiata.
Regarding the incidents, Marco reports that there have been 1,300 calls to the Castelló Emergency services, mainly due to noise, something “normal at parties”, but in general “calmness” has been the predominant note, the same as It is expected by the end of the big week.