La Guancha becomes once again a prominent setting for the programming around the festival of Saint Andrew on the Island. And talking about this important tradition in the final stretch of the year inevitably implies pointing out the steep streets of the municipality, the slopes and descents along which young and old slide with the popular San Andrés boards. It is the prelude to the long-awaited opening of wineries, with the fruit of the last harvest.
It is one of the most popular and recognized cultural signs of those who live on the northwest side of Tenerifea space for entertainment and fun, paired with excellent local wines and local cuisine.
The La Guancha City Council, with the intention of highlighting and protecting the festival of San Andrés, has designed for this edition a program of events that includes the main activities and events at street level.
“The dragging of boards is a centuries-old tradition, born in the middle of the 16th century, which has been reproduced since then in our municipality and in Icod de los Vinos,” says Lorena Socas, Councilor for Tourism and Festivals. “There is no exact theory that reveals the true reason why this fun down the street was born, although everything suggests that the tradition is of winery origin, with wood that slid from the mountain down the steep streets to later be used in the construction of barrels, barrels or other furniture,” says the Guanchera leader.
The last three days of November allow you to dust off your home boards, with varied designs and unequal sizes, to experience the long-awaited drag through well-known streets such as La Caldera, La Palmita, El Agua, El Pinalete or Las Colmenitas, among many others distributed throughout the town. “From the City Council we advertise, give visibility and support each year these days of leisure and healthy fun, a time of coexistence in which educational centers, associations, sports clubs and several hundred families participate,” says the second deputy mayor. from La Guancha. The local leader highlights the “dragging of the pot” by the CEIP Santo Domingo students, as another of the attractions of these popular festivals, “as well as the pottery workshop that we have devised through the Moldea Tu Barro Association, as a showcase “promoting one of the most important crafts in La Guancha,” he says.
Doctor Fleming Street will once again be the main stage of the Wines, Tapas and Tables event, promoted in 2019 by the Guanchero City Council to highlight the benefits around the San Andrés festival: wines, locally harvested products and the popular and massive board dragging along La Palmita street and its surroundings, in the area of El Farrobo, La Asomada and the town center.
“We have designed a San Andrés festival in style,” acknowledges the first deputy mayor, María José García, who anticipates that “in this edition of Wines, Tapas and Tables we will have several cafeterias in the municipality, as well as canteens and stands. of commissions, associations, sports clubs and groups of schoolchildren fully involved in the organization of their class’s end-of-year trip.” The person also responsible for Culture and Commerce insists that the tapas that will be offered during the evening in the central Guanchera street “will be accompanied by the best wines and the musical atmosphere of two greats of music: Ni 1 Pelo de Tonto and the DJ Luis de Lionby Puretas Party.”
“We want to recover the essence, and also the success, of the first edition of Wines, Tapas and Tables of La Guancha,” says Mercedes Báez, responsible for the Municipality’s Agriculture and Citizen Security Areas, after the latest celebrations held in the square. of the church. “That first experience on the street made us see the opportunities we have as a town directly linked to the primary sector, with top quality wines and a board drag that, despite the passing of the years, continues to be understood as a true spectacle for neighbors and visitors of all ages,” he emphasizes.
“In the organization of Wines, Tapas and Tables, my areas have been working in recent weeks on the organization of the three wine sales points that we will have on the street, with recognized wines from a wide range of wine-growing territories in our area, under the umbrella of the DO Ycoden Daute Isora and the DOP Islas Canary Islands”. During the event, the crystal glass can be purchased at the price of two euros per unit. Drinks with the chosen wines will be controlled by tickets that must be purchased at the points enabled for this purpose. They will also have a single amount of two euros per glass.
A massive night is expected. “In 2019 we sold 6,000 tapas and wine tickets, a very important figure that speaks for itself regarding the impact that this type of celebrations can have in our municipality” – recognizes Báez – so from the City Council “we have designed a meticulous security operation, led by the Local policewhich will allow this new festive, gastronomic and wine-growing commitment to come to fruition in the heart of La Guancha.”
The La Guancha City Council calls for neighborhood participation, while inviting people from other parts of the Island to discover the festival of San Andrés “living the experience of dragging boards through the steep streets of the municipality and toasting with guanchero wine, in an environment of shared fun and healthy coexistence.”
María José García, Lorena Socas and Mercedes Báez organize, for the first time, jointly, the program of popular events for San Andrés in La Guancha. The three women from the local government agree that “the shared tasks allow for better control of all matters related to this festival, from the placement of rubber on all the streets, the lighting of spaces with more public influx and road signage. , to the promotion and dissemination of the different meetings.” Chestnuts occupy a prominent place this year, as the identity fruit of a municipality clinging to its history, linked to its traditions and proud of the cultural and festive manifestations that take place every year.
