Tuesday, March 26

The people of Cáceres take to the streets with San Miguel


Queues at children’s attractions. The lower part of Cánovas and San Antón are closed to traffic. / GEORGE KING

Activities multiply, with very active hospitality businesses and queues to get on the fair’s children’s attractions

Manuel M. Nunez

It is the ‘small fair’, but the response has not been long in coming. «Cáceres always responds. Coming here is a pleasure”, launches José Luis Sojo. He arrives from Córdoba and does so on these dates for the first time. Theirs is one of the stalls that occupy the side of Parque de Gloria Fuertes closest to Avenida de España. That space has become an improvised fair, with mini-shops for souvenirs and pralines like the ones that this merchant makes, with his own stamp. ‘La casa de las garrapiñadas’ has raised prices out of sheer necessity. “Barely 50 cents,” Sojo details, although a client protests because the package already costs three euros.

The atmosphere is festive. Accompanies the temperature. Offers keep coming. “We had come to the medieval market and in Cáceres we are always treated well, but the experience of the San Miguel fair is being good,” continues Sojo, who also highlights that the fees paid “are lower than in other cities where let’s go». He talks as he swirls the caramelized liquid around his almonds. It is an author’s work, on a copper container. “It runs in the family,” he notes.

Just a few meters away, one of the city’s main thoroughfares, Avenida de España, is closed to traffic. Its lower part and the continuity of San Antón eliminate vehicles this Saturday and pedestrians can walk in the middle of the street. But what really draws attention are the queues. You have to wait your turn to get on one of the six children’s attractions placed. Bouncy castles, trampolines, mattresses… The superjump is only for people over six years of age. Fathers and mothers accompany their children before their big moment. Based on the reception that the initiative has had, many more attractions would have been needed to cover the demand without waiting.

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«We had never come to Cáceres in September, but it is being a good fair. Cáceres always responds»

JOSE LUIS SOJO

The house of the caramels

“What we’ve seen in late summer and early fall has been a tremendous thing. My business has had a huge movement. Especially with Portuguese and Galician. And many people from Cáceres who live abroad and haven’t come to the city for years”, mentions Francisco Palacios. He runs the Centro restaurant, in San Juan, and prefers to go beyond the San Miguel fair itself by admitting that the inn is experiencing, at least in his case, a good time. «On weekends we always have a lot of activity and the nights are good, but this Saturday there is a great atmosphere. There are many things, ”adds Emilio Rey, from the El Pato restaurant, in the Plaza Mayor.

“Hopefully this fair will continue in the future. It is working and will help us pay the 5,500 euros of the last electricity bill»

Maria Perez Burgos

Aquarius

The ‘day fair’ has one of its favorite corners in the area known as ‘de los Obispos’. The flags hang over the entrance to the Orense restaurant, where groups gather at tapas time. It’s hot, the sun shines and the atmosphere is like a fair. But it is not San Fernando nor are we in May. San Miguel also takes the party to the fall. “It’s great. We are noticing it a lot. This type of initiative always attracts. There is a lot of tourism and also people from Cáceres who go out. For hospitality businesses it is a huge support. Hopefully the City Council maintains it, “says María Pérez Burgos, who runs Aquario, one of the classics when it comes to reeds. “At least it will help us pay the electricity bill. In August the bill was 5,500 euros », she regrets.

Customers keep coming in and Pablo, one of the waiters, is clear when they ask him how the ‘small fair’ is going: «Don’t you see how this is? We don’t stop », he sums up.

There is a lot of activity in Cáceres this Saturday. For San Miguel, but also for the celebration of Tourism Day, with queues to access reference monuments in the capital. This is the case of the Torre de Bujaco shortly after noon. In Santa María the bars appear ready for a new and intense day of the blues festival. A short distance away, the Urban Sketchers hangout adds atmosphere to Plaza de San Jorge. “Cáceres has an unbeatable cultural, sports and leisure agenda”, the mayor has published on his social networks. Luis Salaya thus responds to those who repeat a very common criticism, that of ‘there is nothing in Cáceres’. San Miguel puts the counterpoint without the need to take the party to the fair.


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