Valterra, referred to by this year's town crier as,"a seafaring neighborhood from bow to stern and from port to starboard", celebrated the opening festivities of the Carmen 2006 Festival last Saturday. The reading of the town crier's speech and the presentation of the candidates for Misses were the acts with which the residents of Valterra took the first step towards a festivity that will last fifteen days.
The reading of the town crier's speech was given by Manuel Hernández Noda. Born in Valterra and a sailor like many of his neighbors, he illustrated through his memories the life of when the neighborhood was intimately linked to the sea. He recalled the smells of the canning factories, the games he shared in the open fields, when they still didn't have sidewalks, or the first parties they celebrated in which they prepared dressing rooms with three planks.
Not one, not two. Up to three Misses titles will be awarded next Saturday among the ten candidates who were presented at the first act of these festivities. Ten finalists, between 16 and 19 years old, who will compete for the title of Miss Valterra, Queen of the Carmen Festivities and Miss Cultural Center Association of Neighbors Los marineros de Valterra and who will participate in the next Miss Lanzarote contest.
Idaira Fernández del Rosario, Sonia Martinez de Iturrati Ginori, Tania Garcia Fajardo, Saray Santana Martinez, Isabel Tejera Perdomo, Casandra González Santana, Danivia García González, Cintia Rodríguez Ascensión, Ruth Guillén Pérez and Yasirasi García Miranda paraded dressed in denim clothing. Although five of the participants will obtain some title, because in the gala next Saturday, in addition to choosing the most beautiful, two ladies-in-waiting will be chosen. During the presentation, the Rosa del Valle dance school and Ludi Álamo also performed, who, at only fourteen years old, appeared with a flamenco dress on stage to perform a copla that delighted all the attendees.
On Sunday, the water party was held in the José García Hernández Governor's Park, and at night the children imitated their favorite singers in the Valterra Children's Play Back, which was held in the same place. Until next Sunday, the big day of the festivities and a date that every sailor has in mind, Valterra will host countless activities, which have been organized by the Festival Committee, among which the Song Festival on July 12 or the Folk Festival with the performances of Rondalla Guanapay, Parranda Los Labradores and Escuela Folclórica Maneje Los Pinos stand out. On Friday, the mythical Drag Queen Festival will take place, which is already celebrating its eighth edition. On the 16th, Mass will be officiated for the Sailors in the morning, and in the afternoon the Pilgrimage of the Sea and the Land Procession will be celebrated.
Next week, with the neighbors already immersed in the festivities, the second Meeting of Veterans of the Valterra Song, the second Valte-Rock Festival will be held until July 23, Valterra will say until next year with the Decoration of the Boat that will parade the image of the Virgen del Carmen along the coast of Arrecife on the esplanade of the Portonaos dock and the celebration of the Eucharist and the Maritime Procession in the vicinity of the Parish of Our Lady of Carmen. As a finishing touch, the Fireworks.
