El Tablero commemorates the 25th anniversary of its La Zafra Fair

 

The neighborhood of El Tablero will commemorate the 25th anniversary of its La Zafra Fair on June 7 and 8 with a program of activities and ethnographic exhibitions dedicated to refreshing the collective memory, especially of the new generations, of the tomato agricultural past. that supported the birth and subsequent growth of the town until the current tourism industry was implemented.

 

This program of activities was presented this Tuesday by the second deputy mayor and councilor responsible for the municipal area of ​​Education and Culture, Elena Álamo Vega, together with the mayor of Celebrations, Yilenia Vega Macías, and the sociocultural promoter of the area, Santiago Almeida Lion.

 

 

 

 

“When a special socio-community work project like this is celebrating its anniversary, it is because it has the important involvement of the entire neighborhood and association fabric of the town that is involved in its realization,” said Elena Álamo, recalling that this recreational event arose with the intention to commemorate the collective festival that the residents of El Tablero celebrated every year at the end of the tomato harvest, “an agricultural crop that they gradually abandoned to dedicate themselves to work in the tourist area,” he recalled. “However, as a good town that takes care of its roots and its origins, it has not wanted to lose that essence of a sharecropping town so that new generations know and learn about that deep-rooted and festive tradition,” she said.

 

This edition highlights the screening of the audiovisual documentary 'Aparceros' and the subsequent colloquium 'A story full of life, struggle and hope', which will take place on Friday the 7th at 19:30 p.m. at the Carmelo Pérez Rodríguez Cultural Center. The film restored and digitized by the Filmoteca Canaria reflects the harsh living conditions associated with the tomato harvests in the south of Gran Canaria in the 70s. In fact, the film shot in 1972 was censored by the dictatorship for five years. The documentary was made by a Basque company that came to the Island to cover an audiovisual assignment of a tourist nature, but could not resist filming the harvest. The film was directed by Jesús Almendros and had Ramón Saldías as director of photography, who traveled specifically for this filming, which was made in 35 millimeters in black and white. However, the restored film includes unpublished images of the filming process captured by Saldías' wife. Maite Beltrán, and also unpublished images of a demonstration that the sharecroppers organized in the capital of Gran Canaria shortly after.

 

The activities on Saturday the 8th will all be held in the Plaza de la Iglesia starting at 17:30 p.m., with a craft exhibition supported by ten representatives of the Fedac; an exhibition of the work that social and cultural groups have been creating in the town; children's craft workshops; traditional Canarian games; a corner for specific readings about agriculture, tomato cultivation and the history of the municipality; a photographic exhibition linked to the groups and previous fairs; stands selling gastronomic products and tasting traditional foods from the harvest seasons and an example of plow and stone lifting, club fighting and the shepherd's jump.

 

Timple and taifas

 

In its musical aspect, the 2024 Zabra Fair includes a stellar concert by the timplist Althay Páez and El Quinteto, which will have the special participation of the also timplist Domingo El Colorao, and with the traditional taifa dance that will liven up the El Botellín parties. and El Mejunje. For this dance, families can reserve tables by calling extension 1809 at 928.723.400, in the afternoon.