All the fun of fiestas... and not

Sunday the sixteenth it is this year for what is one of the great fiesta occasions. The demons are let loose, and this Sunday the Pollensa demons, Ca de Bou, will be joined by Muro’s Dimonis de sa Pedrera. The correfoc fire-run isn’t always apt in that demons can stay more or less in one place. But in Puerto Pollensa the demons live up to the description. The route is from the church square to La Gola; not a huge distance, but certainly far enough to genuinely qualify as a fire-run.

While you’re enjoying the correfoc, evading sparks from the tridents and being terrorised by the occasional mask-wearing demon, just spare a thought for these great street entertainers; it must get pretty hot in those costumes. At least they can de-robe and watch the fireworks that follow, all this having been preceded by the flotilla with the images of the Virgin and Saint Peter.

In Can Picafort, meanwhile, it isn’t fiesta but festival. The Reggaeton Beach Festival in Son Baulo has caused an almighty great fuss, opposition to it having been led by hoteliers near to the festival site. Santa Margalida’s mayor, Joan Monjo, has insisted that the event will not harm the environment and that the site is not a protected area.

The hoteliers have been critical of the regional environment ministry because they had not received any response to points raised with regard to the environmental impact. However, the ministry did inform the town hall that the staging of the festival needed to be subject to an environmental impact assessment. The festival site is close to the Son Baulo torrent, which borders the Son Real finca. The first is a site of community interest (LIC) and the second is a ZEPA, area for the special protection of birdlife. The ministry pointed out that the law on acoustic contamination requires particular defence against noise in areas with high acoustic sensitivity, and both the torrent and the finca are such areas.

It hasn’t only been the hotels by the site who have been complaining. The Can Picafort Hoteliers Association took up the case. It was this association which fired off letters to the environment ministry and to the Council of Mallorca’s department of territory, under which comes the agency for the defence of territory. This agency is most commonly known for taking action against illegal building on non-urban land but its remit does cover the type of situation that has arisen in Can Picafort.

It is a situation which isn’t satisfactory. The organisers have been on something of a charm offensive, highlighting the sustainability credentials of the festival and benefits for the local economy. They, to be fair, can’t be blamed, as they have been guided by the town hall, the mayor having rejected all the objections.

Coming to Alcudia, it’s good to see that the splendid Via Fora has been revived in its full peripatetic glory. This series of dramatised representations of events in Alcudia’s history was shelved because of the pandemic. Even last year, there was just the one venue - the amphitheatre near to the bullring. But the essence of Via Fora is that the five historical events are performed at different points along the walls. The audience can follow the actors and musicians from the Porta des Moll (market square) to the other points.

A new scene for this year’s Via Fora recreates the declaration of Alcudia as a “ciutat”. In July 1523, Carlos I of Spain (also Carlos V, the Holy Roman Emperor) named Alcudia the Most Loyal (or faithful) City to the Emperor. Alcudia thus became the first city in Mallorca other than Palma, the title having been granted because it was Alcudia which resisted the Revolt of the Brotherhoods, also referred to as the Germanies War. As such, this is nowadays something of an awkward historical fact, given that contemporary interpretation is overwhelmingly in favour of the brotherhoods (guilds).

The first Via Fora was on Thursday. The next will be on July 27, and there will be two more in August - 10 and 31. It starts at 9pm. And just to mention that the fiestas for Sant Jaume start in Alcudia this Friday (July 14) with a giants and batucada procession from Porta des Moll at 7.30pm.

Paying the councillors

In Pollensa, there was a row over salaries paid to the mayor and executive councillors that rumbled on for the whole of the last administration. In 2019, the mayor, Tomeu Cifre, raised salaries to the maximum permitted for a municipality of Pollensa’s size. He was on well over 50,000 euros per annum. The previous mayor, Miquel Àngel March, and his administration had kept salaries down by around 30%.

March’s brother, Martí, is the new mayor. He and the administration have agreed new salaries. His will be ten per cent lower than the 57,866 euros that Andrés Nevado was on during the months that he was mayor (the salary had been adjusted upwards). Councillors with exclusive dedication, i.e. full time, will also be paid ten per cent less - a maximum of 45,000 euros.

In Alcudia, salaries for councillors will in total cost 50% more, now that there is a new administration. The mayor, Fina Linares, will be paid the same as Martí March in Pollensa - 52,000 euros - and councillors with exclusive dedication will get 43,000 euros.

Barbara Rebassa, who was mayor from 2019 to 2022, has been critical of these salaries, especially as the three parties that form the new administration - the Partido Popular, Vox and Unió per Alcudia - had themselves criticised salaries set in 2019. Rebassa, it might be noted, only received around a quarter of what she was entitled to, as had been the case with Toni Mir when he was mayor from 2015 to 2019.