I smelled your votes, wrote Arturo San AgustÃn on May 1, 1995 in El Periódico. “Mayors and altar boys compete with hams and flyers to appear in the photo of Santa Coloma.” It is one of the press clippings from the 50th anniversary expo of the April Fair of Catalonia. And in La Vanguardia Jaume V. Aroca explained the political paseÃllo. “The mayor or mayor is taken on foot or in the air to the Fecac, where he drinks the first finos and eats some ham tacos. The honors done, flanked by GarcÃa Prieto, the most exhausting part begins: touring the booths to which he has been invited, sometimes two, sometimes ten. In each one, a fino, a few taquitos, a few words and, occasionally, a few sevillanas stepsâ€.
The brotherhoods are delighted these days. After years of concealed ignoring, politicians are returning to the celebration again. The scandals of the former president of the Fecac, Francisco GarcÃa Prieto, the internal wars between entities and later the pandemic took away from the party its political role. But the return to normality and the electoral calendar are marking a turning point.
“All the mayors are here again, now that we have calmed down,†say the veterans of the sarao, “and the people love it, whatever their ideology. In the last few editions, many politicians turned their backs on the Fair, but now… we’ve even made the front pages of the newspapers again!
In this way Ada Colau, the mayoress of BComú, in addition to officiating the inauguration, was also here on Saturday, much looser, with Yolanda DÃaz. Republican Ernest Margall also came on Friday, and on Sunday he will return along with his number two, Elisenda Alemany, and a good part of his list. ERC, like the PSC, Ciudadanos and Vox, has its own booth.
The socialist Jaume Collboni went to the inauguration, on Monday he ate with representatives of the neighborhood groups and on Wednesday with the Crisol collective. Xavier Trias, from Junts, also attended on Friday, and on Wednesday he scored his own walk. Anna Grau, from Ciudadanos, will be the mayor who steps on the real one the most this year.
Eva Parera, from Valents, set up a stall at the door on the opening day to distribute leaflets. And the popular Daniel Sirera also came on Friday and returned on Monday. Everyone has an open agenda for the last days of the revelry.
