n a month and a half, “a record time”, the Mixed Commission of the Patron Saint Festivities of La Orotava prepared a festive program “completely different” from the one before ending the restrictions imposed by COVID-19 and that includes more of a hundred religious, recreational, cultural, artistic, traditional and sports acts to be able to recover normality on dates long awaited by the residents of the Villa.
This was announced yesterday by the Councilor for Fiestas, Alexis Pacheco, who presented the festive program at City Hall accompanied by the mayor, Francisco Linares; the parish priest of the Church of La Concepción, Honorio Campos; the representative of the Mixed Commission, Ángel Benito Rodríguez, and the author of the poster, Damián Rodríguez.
The celebrations start this Sunday and will continue until June 27 with the battle of polkas, one day after the Pilgrimage in honor of San Isidro Labrador and Santa María de la Cabeza. In this context, Pacheco confirmed that the Queen’s Election Gala will be on June 11 at Franchy Alfaro Square, with 22 candidates while the Romera Mayor will be elected on Saturday 18 at the Taoro Liceo, coinciding with the Corpus of Santo Domingo. The next day will be San Juan and La Perdoma, and at night, in Franchy Alfaro square, there will be a festival of soloists with renowned voices of Canarian music.
The most anticipated week begins on June 20 with the traditional Recital of Los Sabandeños in the Franchy Alfaro Square, and continues on Tuesday 21 with the reading of the proclamation, which this year will be in charge of the journalist and director of DIARIO DE AVISOS, Agustín M. González Martín, entitled ‘News and historical milestones of the Very Noble and Loyal Villa de La Orotava’.
On Wednesday, June 22, the 2021 Wine Harvest of the Valle de La Orotava Designation of Origin will be presented on Mercedes Pinto Avenue with a capacity of 5,000 people.
On Thursday the 23rd, in the Infraoctava of Corpus Christi, the 35 flower carpets will once again be made through the streets of the historic quarter, in addition to the great tapestry of the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, made with sand from the Teide National Park and this year, with ashes of the La Palma volcano, through which the Blessed Sacrament will then procession.
The following day will be the Dance of the Magicians, which this time will have four different stages located in the area of El Puente, Avenida de Canarias, Plaza de Franchy Alfaro and Plaza del Quinto Centenario. On Saturday the cattle fair, the Rise of the Patron Saints, will take place, while on the 26th there will be the great pilgrimage.
The mayor underlined “the projection” that the festivities have, “a benchmark in the Canary Islands” and confirmed that in the years prior to COVID, during the ‘big week’ more than 200,000 people visited the municipality, generating an economic impact of 5 million.
