The councilor for festivities, Encarna Páez, has been the target of all complaints and also of praise. This newspaper contacted her to get an assessment of the controversial festivities.
She assures that citizens have not asked her for "big things" and that most of the suggestions they have sent her have to do with the location of the various festive activities.
"They have asked me to take the festivities out of the fairgrounds so that the Parque Islas Canarias, the Avenida de la Marina, the Charco de San Ginés are used a little more, and that everything is not centered inside the fairgrounds, because the citizens of Arrecife were used to having more activities in other parts of the city, such as in the Castle," she said.
Change of location
These people have told her that the venue seemed a "suffocating" place and have requested larger and more open spaces. In addition, they have asked her to do something to solve the issue of car parking. But the truth is that, as she herself recalled, in addition to the fairgrounds, there have been many other places that have hosted the activities of these two weeks.
This is the case of the Music Kiosk, the Sociedad Democracia, the Casa de la Cultura, the Charco de San Ginés and the various sports facilities where the different championships have been held. Therefore, it does not seem that the crux of the matter is in the location of the festivities, but rather in their content.
Less folklore and more imagination
The digital edition of LA VOZ asked its readers about the San Ginés events, and no less than 93 percent of those surveyed described the festivities organized by the Arrecife City Council as "bad or terrible".
In addition, 51 percent of a total of 1030 respondents, that is, 534 people, chose to point out that the festivities "are bad this year and all previous years," adding that "there should be an ideas contest to create new festivities." Seen this way, the matter seems serious.
For their part, 444 votes went to the answer according to which these are "the worst festivities that have been organized," assuming that "the City Council has less and less imagination every day and spends less". Although money should not be the problem, because last year more was invested in the Department of Festivities than in Health and Education combined.
Musical performances
There have been many reproaches from citizens directed against the program of musical performances. The councilor has consciously opted for local groups and traditional folklore, being a success for many and a mistake for many others. "You can't please everyone," the councilor would say, but when it comes to using popular sayings, the most critical citizens could respond with the other great cliché stating that "variety is the spice of life."
The traditional festivities that are organized throughout the geography of the Island are not very appreciated, in general terms, among young people and the non-conejera population residing in Lanzarote, who barely look at the endless celebrations that week after week try to attract the public, and in the end they have to settle for the usual: parrandas, batucadas and other folkloric modalities.
In times of the information age and the culture of the visual, some think that the parranderos and regional costumes should perhaps be applied in more moderate doses.
The little cars at 1 euro
Now it is up to the government group to meet to assess the positive and negative points of these two weeks of festivities, and the councilor promised that she was going to "try to make the citizens more happy in 2006."
The councilor did not want to miss this opportunity to congratulate the security forces for their performance during the festivities. There is the gratitude to the local and national police, the Red Cross and Civil Protection, and "to all those who have been night after night in the Fairgrounds," watching over our safety.
Fortunately, this year there were no incidents of any kind to regret. She also had words of thanks for the company Urbaser, since "thanks to them we have had the fairgrounds and all the places in the city where the festivities have taken place, as clean and perfumed as possible."
Finally, Encarna Páez revealed good news for fans of the fair's attractions: they will remain open throughout the weekend and the entrance to each "little car" will cost only 1 euro.
