2023-10-31 07:30:53
“Les Faires de Sant Narcís”, by Àngel Rodríguez Vilagran, is a guide from the collection Quaderns de la Revista de Girona, published by the Diputació, which aims to summarize what the Girona Fairs are through the history, music, culture and popular shows
How have the Girona Fairs changed over the years?
First of all, the situation, first they took place on the Rambla and then on the Jaume I avenue. Besides that, now people move more easily, before they arrived from the towns on horseback, by cart or on foot, until all on special trains from Barcelona and Perpignan. Then they spent the night in Girona, in inns or private houses.
Those must have been big party nights.
A journalist from Diari de Girona explained that on All Saints’ Day in 1910 there were so many people in Girona that some slept on restaurant tables. Today, you leave your car in a parking lot and at the end of the day you return home. And the weather!
A journalist from Diari de Girona explained that on All Saints’ Day in 1910 there were so many people in Girona that some slept on restaurant tables
What about the weather?
Before, people used to wear their coats for the Fair.
Well today, coming here in short sleeves, I ate an ice cream.
imagine yourself In the mid-80s, I was in a Ràdio Grup booth, and it was bitterly cold. People were dressed like Eskimos.
What is your best memory of the Fairs?
When the Enterprise, an attraction, was launched in 1981. It was a kind of ferris wheel, oh, I mean fairground wheel, which ferris wheel you can’t say now. It aroused excitement throughout the city, it was in front of the old pavilion. You were turning heads upside down. The first year I didn’t go up there because I was scared. The second, yes.
Being on the radio, with one of those old radiocassettes, I recorded the tour through the interior of the House of Fear, rebroadcasting it
Are you a fool?
I also liked the House of Fear. So much so, that once, being on the radio, with one of those old radiocassettes, I recorded the tour through its interior, rebroadcasting it. I passed it on the air at four in the afternoon. Meanwhile, the director was gesticulating at me that I was crazy.
They’re not bad memories, but let’s see if it beats this one: I had my first kiss at the Fairs.
Oh, that’s cute, see? Fairs were matchmakers.
I didn’t get that far.
Well they were. And they were places to tie. You used to get into bumper cars and invite the girl you liked to ride with you.
Oops, now that would be sexist.
Probably.
You used to get into bumper cars and invite the girl you liked to ride with you, that would probably be chauvinism now
Is it starting to happen that there are people from Girona who flee the city for fairs?
It’s not from now. In the sixties there were already people from Girona who went to Perpignan or Barcelona.
What do you miss about the Fairs of yesteryear?
I used to like it when there were car dealers at the Fair. And when every radio station had its stand there, doing live programs.
And the magazines with their celebrities?
Yes, but if that was done now, I don’t think it would be understood. And those who would not understand it, would criticize it. Unfortunately, it would not be understood that the Lido Theater is an entertainment show. They would accuse him of being sexist, when he is not. It was about entertainment and humor. Even beauty.
What should we eat for Fairs?
the frankfurts
What a surprise he didn’t mention the panels.
Heh, heh, they are very expensive. I never buy panels because I consider it a rip-off. They are sixty euros a kilo! A frankfurter must be eaten. And if not, a hamburger. What I have never tasted is this Paponazo.
Music in Catalan at the attractions? For me, the music has to be what the marketer wants
Will the price of the attractions soon catch up with that of the panels?
When I wrote the book, the attraction that paid the most, paid 9,000 euros. It is now at 10,000. If they have to pay this to the council, plus the salaries of the staff, it must be expensive to go up there.
Does the music they play have to be in Catalan?
For me, it has to be whatever the marketer wants. One cool thing about the Fairs was going to the bumper cars and listening to the music of the moment. The same one that was fashionable on the radio and discos, was felt there.
Since he works at the Bishopric and is an expert on the subject: is the legend of the flies and Saint Narcís true?
In 1285, the Girona people invoked God, who saved them from the invasion of the French by sending them a swarm of flies that caused an epidemic. Then, the Girona people attributed it to Saint Narcís, the patron saint. The legend serves to embellish a story. And it doesn’t hurt.
#buy #panels #robbery