Many of the children who attended the reception of the Three Wise Men yesterday at the Heliodoro Rodríguez López stadium were doing so for the first time when they were six years old. The pandemic had robbed them, until yesterday, of the possibility of enjoying a live show in which Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar collected the last letters from those thousands of children who finally saw them in person yesterday. They also discovered the joy of the street with the Parade, which began after the show in the stadium.
Ashley, at seven years old, was looking forward to her favorite king, Gaspar. Next to her, Susana, nine, who was waiting for hers, Baltasar, who is the same as Julieta’s, six, who loves the fur collar of His Majesty of the East. They all assured that they had behaved very well, exchanging complicit glances with their parents, and all of them affirmed that they had not asked for many things. Again the complicit look with their parents gave them away. The stands were full of families in which it was difficult to distinguish who was more excited to see the Three Kings, if the children or the parents.
The desire to recover normality made yesterday’s reception act the most massive in the history of this show, with 17,500 spectators. From the Santa Cruz City Council it was recalled that the full capacity of the stadium is 22,000 people, and that only 18,000 tickets were sold due to security. Yesterday only 500 people failed, quite a record.
As recognized by the mayor, José Manuel Bermúdez, “the magic of the stadium has been recovered”. The councilor admitted that “this is one of the most beautiful acts that I have as mayor, in which there is a positive energy that floods everything with illusion.”
Bermúdez was in charge of receiving Their Majesties, who arrived at the stadium after half past six in the afternoon, after the helicopter from the Army’s BHELMA VI Maneuver Helicopter Battalion, based in Los Rodeos, passed over of the stadium to announce his arrival.
Before, at 5:00 p.m., the show of Las fabricas de Babayán 3.0 began, staged by the Timaginas Teatro company, and in which the endearing characters Balto, Zenda, Matilda, Giorgina or Martina, who for two years could only be seen through the small screen, yesterday they materialized on the pitch of the stadium.
The villain Don Ramón was in charge of sowing uncertainty in this fantasy, threatening to exchange the gifts of the little ones for coal. The boys and girls present in the stadium yelled with enthusiasm to prevent the gifts from disappearing, and all in spite of the sound, which is one of the things to improve.
Along with the characters, a cast made up of more than 700 dancers and extras filled the pitch. The choreographic groups En Paralelo Danza, Crew of Dreams, Loli Pérez, Latin Salsa, Tenerife Dance Project, Rebeca García, ONYS, Ballet Dance, Funkiguachi, Crazy Dancer, Ibaute and Moana were in charge of animating the public with their dances. The girls, the majority were, of all ages, showed their desire to do well and enjoy at the same time.
With the delivery of the magical key to the city to the Three Wise Men, they began their royal walk through the stadium collecting letters, giving kisses, hugs, and posing for many, many photos. The little ones attended amazed, some; without stopping talking, others, but all with the illusion reflected on their faces, that of those who still firmly believe that dreams can be fulfilled by writing them on a piece of paper and handing them over to his favorite king.
After the show in the stadium, the Kings lined up the street to begin the Parade, which also registered a record number of attendees, with nearly 100,000 people distributed along the route of the royal parade through the streets of downtown Santa Cruz .
