Hundreds of people packed the capital’s Plaza del Príncipe yesterday. There Christmas in Santa Cruz was inaugurated with the lighting of the Christmas lights. The little ones were the protagonists, both in the audience, where families with children predominated, and on stage, where five little ones, one from each of the districts that Santa Cruz has, together with the mayor, José Manuel Bermúdez, and the guest singer, Nia, activated the symbolic power button, at which point all the stars that serve as the roof of the square and the rest of the elements of the city center lit up.
The mayor, just before the lights went on, addressed the public, congratulating the different areas for the effort to launch Christmas, and announcing that “this year, finally, we can say that the Three Wise Men are coming”, which aroused the unanimous applause of the public.
The switching on of the Christmas lights was preceded by a show in which the square in the Plaza del Príncipe was transformed into a “magic box” that housed the illusion of an act that began with the interpretation of the Christmas carol Somewhere in my memory by John Williams in charge of the Choir of White Voices of the Autonomous Organism of Culture made up of 45 components. This performance gave way to Las Estrellas go down to Santa Cruz.
After the mayor activated the switch, the special ignition was started. The winner of Operación Triunfo in its 2020 edition, Nia Correia from the Canary Islands, closed the opening act of the Christmas holidays with the interpretation of the Christmas carol Farolito, popularized by Gloria Estefan, in addition to six more songs from her musical repertoire, encouraging the public to stand up and dance to celebrate Christmas.
Bermúdez pointed out that, “thanks to the planned programming and the lighting arranged in our avenues, streets and squares, Santa Cruz will once again be the Heart of Christmas.” The mayor highlighted not only “the increase in lights in all districts”, but also “the municipal commitment to sustainability”. This last aspect is “tangible not only in the use of the most efficient LED technology, but also in its adaptation to a more rational time slot”, he concluded.
The Councilor for Fiestas, Alfonso Cabello, recalled that “the switching on of lights is an encounter with tradition and with the illusion of these festivities”, an aspect that, according to the mayor, “this year takes on greater importance, as it is the first Christmas in a long time in which normality will be present in all acts and celebrations ”.
Cabello highlighted that “Christmas lighting is the start of revitalization in the 14 commercial areas of our five districts”, spaces that he defines “with their own and different personality”, where, in addition, “you can enjoy a varied leisure offer and services,” he concluded.
On this occasion, with a total investment of 780,850 euros, the City Council, through Public Services, the five districts and the Development Society, has installed a total of 1,228 motifs and light arches, 51,830 meters of garlands and 59 floor elements that were turned on simultaneously with the public lighting and that every night will be turned off at two in the morning.
The lighting is part of a festive municipal agenda that includes more than 65 acts for all audiences that combine tradition, culture, leisure, commerce and gastronomy; and which will last until January 5 with the reception ceremony for Their Majesties the Three Kings of the East at the Heliodoro Rodríguez López Stadium, before the traditional parade that will run through the streets of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
With a “Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays” the mayor inaugurated the recovery of Christmas in a capital that recovers the normality that the pandemic took from it on these dates.
