Last night the sky held up well although the cold began to get worse as was usual on the worst nights and this Saturday there was no respite. It has been raining in Valencia since this morning and as the State Meteorological Agency in the Valencian Community (Aemet) advances in its forecast, the rainfall will subside at the last minute, although the sky will tend to be cloudy at intervals. A necessary element is rain – after a “very hot and dry” February in the Valencian Community, according to the Aemet – which in this case spoils the fallera festival that is already starting with strength in the city.
Today is a Saturday of festivals, street lunches and a lot of activity prior to the Fallas that, officially, begin next Friday. Last night there was a preview of that party, a kick-off to the big week of the Fallas with the Conciertazo sponsored by Amstel in the Jardines de Viveros. 6,000 people filled the gardens to listen to national artists such as León Benavente, El y Ella, De Pedro.
There are many Fallas commissions that have pieces covered with plastic on the streets waiting for the cranes to start working this next week. It is the time of nervousness and, above all, of living watching the weather forecast to avoid the rain and, almost with greater fear, the wind, always unpredictable. For tomorrow, Sunday, the Aemet forecast in the province of Valencia indicates that there will be cloudy intervals, without ruling out weak and scattered rainfall in the northern interior.
A weekend of great activity that will bring together a good part of the visiting and local public in the Russafa neighborhood, where the best illumination of the Fallas festivities is erected after the jury’s verdict was announced late yesterday. The three commissions that occupy the top 3 are from the Valencian neighborhood of Russafa, starting with the Cuba-Puerto Rico fallera commission that has won, for the sixth consecutive year, the first prize in the illuminated streets contest of the Central Fallera Board (JCF ). Sueca-Literato Azorín repeats in second place and third place goes to Cuba-Literato Azorín.
And if the rain bothers the Fallas collective this weekend, it also does so to the many Castellón residents who this Saturday afternoon participate in the Offering of Flowers to the Mare de Déu del Lledó on the occasion of the Magdalena festivities, which end tomorrow .
