[PALOMA]

Sorry, Boldlygoes, I did not explain my thoughts properly. I do appreciate your efforts trying to get involved; however, from my own experience in community affairs, I know it is very difficult for an individual to get any imput unless you are either well known my council/organisers or backed by a group of people who will also be willing to help.
My advice would be to get a group of residents, with a good nationality mix, including some Spaniards and approach council/organisers for next year.
I think that you will have more of a chance of getting your input this way.
Good luck with your efforts!

[boldlygoes]

I thought someone would have posted a comment on how the Fiesta went.
My only comment is why wasn't there an act that spoke Spanish, sang something in Spanish, could we not have had a Spanish guitarist or Flamenco dancer to do a spot at some point.Why was the whole Fiesta geared to English.
Just my observations and moan and I know the same questions have been asked before and are unlikely to be acted on but you never know.

[Andreu]

I am starting to get very tired of people who expect everything in Spain to be free of cost. San Fulgencio, like most other small municipalities, is not only broke, it is badly in debt. There is virtually no additional income coming from licence fees since construction has come to a dead halt.

Although we expats might be willing to bear an increase in the IBI tax, that would be a heavy burden for the locals due to high unemployment. So any investment projects have to be first approved and then funded by money dished out by the regional and provincial governments.

The Urb Marina fiesta had to be organised this year on a greatly reduced budget. Therefore it made sense to have the entertainment organised by a local radio station showcasing local nonprofessional "talent" who agreed to perform for free. Although the "music" was not to my liking, I am glad there was a fiesta and went every night.

I have and will participate with the local band in several fiestas around the Costa Blanca. They have all been cut back, for example only one rather than several evenings of Moros y Cristianos processions and even then with hired bands cut up into three smaller bands to back the various filas. That such fiestas can even be held is due to a lot of work during the year, including finding suitable sponsers, done by the various comparsas (fixed groups) that participate.

I am sure that any person/group who wants to present her/his/their ideas for next year's Urb Marina fiesta will be warmly welcomed if they have also come up with realistic proposals on who (not the town hall) will finance the ideas.

[VictorS]

Perhaps all the bars that had chairs & tables out into the car park and making vast amounts of money could be asked to contribute , something like Euro 5 per table on the car park per night , that money could then be used to pay entertainers or for a few fireworks , but I must say the organisation this year really was excellent , so congratulations to the organisers , to vibe FM and viva TV , but please in future could we have some spanish and other nationality entertainers as well .

VictorS

[El Anciano]

I'm not convinced that the sponsored fiesta is the way to go. In general I found the acts to be rather poor (it was like a karaoke show a lot of the time), and just not well suited to the audience. I found the whole VibeFM thing rather annoying, and frankly would have preferred a much smaller event without the corporate self publicity, and the annoying DJ & announcer It just felt corporate, and had no feel of a local fiesta.

Not that it was all bad, I enjoyed two or three of the acts, and at the sound system worked this year!

I also am rather sceptical about the finance argument, I attended the San Fulgencio (town) music fiesta last year, about a week or two after the urb event. It was clear that a lot more money went into that show than the urbanisation event. I'm sorry to say that I just feel that the urb gets a bad deal from the ayuntamieto. I don't doubt that the town hall is broke, but are savings really equally apportioned? I have my doubts.

IMHO, the solution is to have one of these events and combine the budgets, and hold it in the urb one year, then in the town the next year.

[ceejaysmitty]

Perhaps the Councillor and Organiser Mark Lewis would care to make some comments, I won't hold my breath though as he will no doubt be too busy with K9 business.

This post has been edited by ceejaysmitty: 15 August 2010 - 11:44 AM

[jbar]

la marina fiesta
once again we have just had the la marina fiesta ,firstly let me say that the acts that performed were good so this is not about them

my rant is that i live in spainmost of the year and what the committee give me at our local spanish fiesta all english music

more to the piont is that la marina is made up of lots of different nationalities.
there was nothing spanish about the show, there was nothing for the spanish people , German or the dutch residents

i dont know what othe people want but the ones i spoke to saidthey would have love to have seen spanish dancers flemenco guitars,or some thing more in keeping with where we live SPAIN.

[Andreu]

At the risk of extending this line of conversation even further, may I point out two important differences that I think should be obvious to everyone but seem to be so easily forgotten?




The population of the village is permanent but the population of the urbanisation is transient, even if some of us, like myself, live here the year around. Inevitably there will be quite different expectations concerning these ”fiestas”.




Even more important is the fact that, for the locals, there is basically no division into ”performers” vs ”spectators”. Rather everyone is a ”participant” in one way or another. Every year the festivities in October in honour of the Virgen del Remedio or the festivities after the New Year in honour of our patron saints surprise me. They are so imaginative and quite spectacular for such a small village. However, that is never due to the size of the budget. Quite to the contrary, since historically there never was much money, the festivities have been always been the result of a lot of unseen and unpaid work by the inhabitants themselves arranged in various groups. If you don't believe me, please attend, better yet participate in the upcoming fiesta in neighbouring tiny Daya Vieja in September!

[PALOMA]

Not knowing exactly what went this year, but, as a Spanish outsider, I tend to agree with what Andreu has stated. The main element in a Spanish fiesta is the participation of the people and also, the fiesta at San Fulgencio will always be more important to local council as it is the one for those who permanently live in the area and vote at the elections.
Because of the economic crisis, many Spanish towns have seen their fiesta funds drastically reduced and some have had to shorten them and even cancel the festivities.
If the urbanisation fiesta means so much to you, my advice goes back to what I previously said: Get involved!
Anyway, there will be plenty of Spanish fiestas around to enjoy.

[boldlygoes]

I think Andreu must be a representative of the council with his continued support.

What is a Fiesta, as far as I can see it is a chance for locals to celebrate Spanish, life, customs/traditions.

What we get in the urbanization is a music festival bordering on a Rock concert, oh and a foam party, very Spanish.If you are not going to have a Spanish Fiesta then why are other nationalities not represented, Germans, French and Scandinavian countries, they pay there taxes the same as the British.

I dont see how it would be cost prohibitive to have some Spanish dancing, music, competitions.

I agree that to make it happen it takes local involvement. Perhaps if the people in the council, ie Mark Lewis, would seek some outside involvement it would happen.I have contacted the council and Mark Lewis, via the email on his website. and offered to get involved, no reply received from either.

[Andreu]

Just to clarify; I have absolutely nothing to do with the town council and as, you may have guessed, I am certainly not British. But I am a proud member of the band of the UM San Ful. In the 12 month period August 2009 - July 2010 I played in a total of 87 rehearsals and 35 concerts or processions, for which I received a few Euros fuel costs from gigs outside our own municipality. So I practise what I preach about the need for involvement.

[boldlygoes]

Andreu, on 19 August 2010 - 12:39 PM, said:

Just to clarify; I have absolutely nothing to do with the town council and as, you may have guessed, I am certainly not British. But I am a proud member of the band of the UM San Ful. In the 12 month period August 2009 - July 2010 I played in a total of 87 rehearsals and 35 concerts or processions, for which I received a few Euros fuel costs from gigs outside our own municipality. So I practice what I preach about the need for involvement.

You said you are not British, how are we supposed to know that? So you are paid expenses for being part of a band. Are you saying that you performed in the LA Marina fiesta, for no charge.?
As I have already stated, I am willing to help out with the organization of the Fiesta, are you.?

[VictorS]

Out of curiosity were the band of the UM San Fulgencio asked to play at this years La Marina Urb festival , in previous years they did play , if they were asked I would be interested to know why they didnt , if they werent asked again I would like to know why .

Vic

[Andreu]

OK, since you asked, here is what I know. I am not a band committee member (sadly my castellano isn't good enough), so I don't know about a possible invitation this year.




The Unión Musical San Ful band did indeed perform during the 2008 fiesta at the market place and in 2009 in the Consum parking lot. Both times we were given an early evening time slot before most of the public had even begun to arrive. When we came at the appointed time, the organisers had not given any thought as to where we were expected to perform – a band with thirty to forty musicians plus percussion takes up a lot more space than a pop/rock band of four - and we had no assistence of any kind in setting up the chairs and music stands. Furthermore, since we play ”real” music without electric amplification, the band needs to have some sort of an acoustic back-drop behind it, such as a high wall, instead of being perched in each other's laps on an open platform. Also last year, after setting up the band, there were few seats left for the small audience.




If we are asked to perform next year, since we would consider that we are giving a concert, even if it is out-of-doors, we will expect that a little more thought goes into the when and where.

[VictorS]

Andreu , Thank you for the reply , I can understand the frustrations you must have felt at last years festival , but thankfully the organisation was a lot , lot better this year , hopefully the organisers will take note of the posters on here who want more variety and will find a way to incorporate your band in a way that is satisfactory for everyone .

Vic