Garachico recovers in the coming weeks the normality in its Patron Saint Festivities of San Roque and Santa Anawhich take up the main mass events in the street: the magicians’ dance and the small pilgrimage, on Saturday, August 13, and the long-awaited Pilgrimage of San Roque, which this year is celebrated on Tuesday, August 16. The Councilor for Festivities and Security of the City Council of Garachico, Andres Hernandez (CC)expressed his satisfaction at the return of these popular traditions and predicted that, despite falling during the week, the pilgrimage will be able to gather «between 10,000 and 12,000 people, as has happened in the past when it has not been celebrated on weekends ».
These Garachiquense festivities have the peculiarity that they are organized by the Cultural Association Festivities Santa Ana and San Roque, a non-profit citizen entity that was recovered in 2016 and that, since then, has carried the weight of the organization and the collection of the festive budget. The Garachiquense City Council limits itself to offering logistical, financial and security support.
The Glorieta de San Francisco was the place chosen this Wednesday, July 20, for the presentation of the poster for this edition, the work of the young student of Fine Arts paola lorenzoand the program of events, which start this Saturday, July 23, in the old convent of San Francisco with the reading of the proclamation, by the retired professor Bernardo Acosta Evoraand with the presentation of the pilgrimages.
The author of the poster
Paola Lorenzo explained that the poster has been made using the “realistic digital drawing” technique, inspired by “the return to normality and the opportunity to see San Roquito again in the streets, with Santa Ana watching San Roque how he returns after the pandemic, next to the hermitage ».
The Consistory recalls that the town crier Bernardo Acosta Evora was born in El Guincho in 1956 and that he is “a person always closely linked to sports in the municipality, in the RCD Gara and as founder of the Podana Trail mountain racing club, and who was part of the San Roque Festival Commission, of which he was secretary for five years. Recently retired, he has also been a teacher at the Garachiquense school Antonio del Valle Menendez for 18 years.”
The big day of the festivities will be Tuesday, August 16, when between 10,000 and 12,000 people are expected at the Pilgrimage of San Roque
The president of the Santa Ana and San Roque Patron Saint Festivities Cultural Association, Julio Velazquez, was in charge of detailing the main acts of a program that will take place mainly during the next four weekends. Among the most outstanding dates, on Sunday, August 7, at 9:00 p.m., when the popular song festival is celebrated, with the participation of residents of the municipality who go on stage for one night to help raise party funds. Or on Friday, August 12, the day of the Festival of Traditions and the election of the largest pilgrimage, which is held at 10:00 p.m. in Plaza de San Roque, with the director and presenter of Taifa and Lamp, Manolo Perez as maintainer.
Another key day will be Saturday, August 13, the day of the magicians’ dance and the small pilgrimage, from 7:00 p.m., with the usual route departing from Plaza Ramón Arocha and arriving in Plaza de San Roque. There will be held, as in recent years, the traditional dance of magicians. will act Pepe Benavente, Guaracha orchestra and Saoco group. Admission is free.
The big day will be August 16. The acts start at eight in the morning with the mass of the pilgrims in the Hermitage of San Roque and, starting at two in the afternoon, the long-awaited pilgrimage begins in honor of San Roque, who returns, almost three years later, with his floats, folk groups, typical costumes and ajijides. On their return to the Plaza de San Roque, the pilgrims’ dance will be held, enlivened by the Dorada Band and Latin Sound orchestrasuntil midnight.
the mayor Andres Hernandez He highlighted the preparations of the security device, with the support of the Civil Guard and with special attention and reinforcement for August 16. «We come from a pandemic, two years in a row without a pilgrimage, and we can foresee that the number of attendees can increase considerably, seeing how the festivities have developed in other municipalities. That is why we are going to reinforce the security device », he announces.
