Although Mancha Blanca will have a Craft Fair in September, the Los Dolores pilgrimage will also not be held this year. This has been confirmed by the mayor of Tinajo, Jesús Machín, who has pointed out that there will also be no opening speech and that the rest of the events are yet to be specified.
However, although there will be no pilgrimage, Machín has indicated that the celebration of a Security Board is being considered in view of the forecast that there will be people who will still go to Los Dolores on foot, as happened last year, when the influx of impromptu pilgrims led to the traffic having to be cut off on part of the Peñón road. "Plan it to avoid problems," the mayor of the municipality pointed out in this regard.
As for the rest of the events, the mayor has indicated that there will probably be no procession either. "Because in Los Dolores you can control an enclosed area, but if it is open, it cannot be controlled," Jesús Machín indicated. However, he specified that this fact is not yet confirmed. "It is pending the Church," said the mayor, who is waiting to hold a meeting with the vicar to specify the religious events.
With regard to the masses, the idea of the Tinajo Town Council is that there will be "several throughout the week so that people can go more slowly". It is also likely that these will be held inside the hermitage and not outside. "Because outside, as they are chairs, it is uncontrollable. With the devotion that exists for the Virgin, we get the quantities of other years, 6,000 or 7,000 people, and our lives get complicated," Machín pointed out, who nevertheless pointed out that this will also be specified in the meeting with the Church.
Likewise, the mayor of Tinajo hopes to be able to organise activities for children such as traditional games as part of the Los Dolores festivities. "But it is still up in the air, because we agreed with the president of the Cabildo that we were all going to meet with the town councils to go all in the same line," Jesús Machín concluded.