There are nights that remain in memory for what happens on stage and others that do so for the emotions they awaken among those who experience them. Last Thursday's was one of those evenings difficult to forget. The Municipal Theater of San Bartolomé opened its doors to host the event that marks, officially, the beginning of the Patron Saint's Festivities in honor of San Bartolomé Apóstol 2026. A night where tradition, history, and the feeling of belonging walked hand in hand under a common purpose; to celebrate what identifies an entire town.
With the theater completely dedicated to the event, the mayor of the municipality, Isidro Pérez Martín, was in charge of inaugurating the evening with a speech full of closeness and feeling. His first words were an invitation to experience festivities that represent much more than a calendar of activities.
He recalled that August always holds a privileged place in the hearts of the residents of San Bartolomé. It is the month when the streets regain their joy, when reunions with friends, children's laughter, music, sports, folklore, and culture return. But, above all, it is the time when the town recognizes itself again.
The mayor wanted to emphasize that the festivities are memory, identity, and pride of belonging, underlining that behind each event there is the silent work of many people who, year after year, make it possible for traditions to remain alive. Associations, collectives, sports clubs, volunteers, municipal workers, security and emergency services, technicians, artists, and hundreds of anonymous residents who dedicate part of their time so that San Bartolomé continues to celebrate its roots.
Before concluding, he made a call to enjoy the festivities with joy, responsibility, and respect, to give way to one of the most anticipated moments of the night.
A proclamation with a name of its own
The City Council had wanted to entrust the honor of proclaiming the festivities to an institution that, like few others, represents the essence of the municipality; the San Bartolomé Wrestling Club, precisely in the year it celebrates the sixtieth anniversary of its founding.
There could not have been a more fitting choice.
Because talking about the San Bartolomé Fight Club is talking about several generations of neighbors who grew up between fight grounds, training sessions, and fights. It is talking about sacrifice, camaraderie, humility, and respect; values inseparable from Canarian wrestling, the vernacular sport that has managed to keep the nobility of its origins intact.
The mayor himself recalled that Canarian wrestling constitutes a true school of life. The sport where one learns to compete with honor, to win without arrogance, and to accept defeat with dignity. Values that, as he confessed emotionally, he received from his father and that continue to be part of his way of understanding life.
Sixty years writing history
After the mayor's introductory greeting, the stage transformed into a conversation among friends.
The president of the San Bartolomé Fight Club, José Javier Hernández; the current manager, Roberto Berriel; the former fighter Mario Perdomo, and the former fighter and former manager Manuel Martín, all masterfully guided by Ignacio Javier Romero Perera, a deep connoisseur of Canarian wrestling, took the stage.
More than an opening speech, it was a journey through memory
Anecdotes followed one after another, eliciting smiles, applause, and, at many moments, an emotion impossible to hide among those who filled the municipal theater.
Because the history of the San Bartolomé Fight Club is also the history of many families.
It is the story of fathers who took their children to the fight ground for the first time.
Of mothers who waited for the end of each fight.
Of grandfathers who never stopped attending a fight.
Of young people who found in wrestling a path to grow as athletes, but above all, as people.
The opening speakers recalled that long before the club existed, Canarian wrestling was already an inseparable part of the municipality's festivities. On the sand, not only were strengths measured; friendships were forged, examples of nobility were born, and values were transmitted that remain fully valid today.
It was in 1966 when that collective feeling found a structure thanks to the impetus of José Domingo de León Betancort, the unforgettable "Juan Urgilla," founder and first president of the San Bartolomé Fight Club.
With enormous effort, a story began that sixty years later continues to be written with the same passion.
Throughout this time, the club has been much more than a sports entity. It has been a true school of life, a place where several generations have learned that true victory never depends solely on the score, but on respect for the adversary and the dignity with which each challenge is faced.
There were also words of gratitude for all those who made this journey possible: presidents, coaches, fighters, sponsors, collaborators, directors, mothers, fathers, and fans: People who, often anonymously, sustained a project that today forms part of the sentimental heritage of the municipality.
Because a club is not built solely by lifting trophies.
It is built by forming people.
The recognition of an entire town.
After the opening speech, the mayor Isidro Pérez Martín and the Councilor for Festivals, Estefanía Luzardo Pérez, presented the club's president, José Javier Hernández, with the diploma accrediting the San Bartolomé Wrestling Club as the official opener of the Patron Saint Festivals 2026, in addition to a bouquet of flowers as a token of the affection and recognition of the entire municipality.
The official photograph later brought together the openers with the members of the Municipal Corporation, immortalizing an image that will become part of the festive history of San Bartolomé.
Music provided the finishing touch
As it could not be otherwise, music closed a night full of emotions.
The voice of Sara Bermúdez moved the audience by performing some beautiful folías dedicated to Canarian wrestling, composed by her father Miguel Ángel Bermúdez, accompanied on guitar by Samuel Suárez.
Then came the magnificent voices of Iballa González, Victoria Rodríguez, and Desiré Hernández, accompanied by Rayco Hernández on the timple and Manuel Adrián Pérez on guitar, offering a very varied repertoire of music that was received with a prolonged ovation of applause.
Music provided the final touch to a night where emotions constantly surfaced among former fighters, family, friends, and neighbors who wanted to pay tribute to one of the most beloved institutions in the municipality.
The San Bartolomé Wrestling Club celebrated sixty years of history, but also sixty years of transmitting values that remain as alive today as on the first day.
Because some anniversaries are celebrated.
And others are felt.
The night of the proclamation of the Patron Saint Festivals of San Bartolomé Apóstol 2026 was, without a doubt, one of those occasions when an entire town looked into the mirror of its own history again to confirm that its roots remain as firm as ever. And among roots, deep and inseparable from the identity of San Bartolomé, the noble legacy of the San Bartolomé Wrestling Club remains forever.
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