More than 148,000 people have attended the spaces for the celebration of major events and concerts this first weekend of the Fiestas del Pilar, such as the Zity Space that has registered up to 60,000 spectators or the more than 20,000 customers in the food truck area, on the Echegaray and Caballero promenade.
The deputy mayor and municipal councilor for Culture and Outreach of the Zaragoza City Council, Sara Fernández, has released the participation data for the cultural and recreational events on October 8 and 9, in which there have been no incidents and the high turnout, which he has described as “massive and successful with the public” in all the acts, means that “it is confirmed that they were long-awaited parties and the public responds to the call for participation”. “We are very happy,” she added.
The concert with the highest influx was that of Fangoria, with an average of 33,700 people and almost 34,000 at the highest attendance peak in Plaza del Pilar. In the jota performances there have been more than 20,000 attendees and in the contest 2,283 have been reached in the Mozart room of the Auditorium and 17,700 people have been counted in the Fuente de la Hispanidad.
One of the great successes of the Fiestas del Pilar is the children’s program, with 50,409 people on three stages. 39,000 have been counted in Rio and Game in the Expo area; 3,409 children have gone down the great slide of the Tragachicos and Sara Fernández has called the decentralization of the Gigantes y Cabezudos troupe to Garrapinillos a “success”, which caused the collapse of the accesses with the vehicles and the car parks were filled. She has estimated that some 8,000 people have participated in seeing the comparsa dance that for the first time left the urban area to go to a rural neighborhood.
Decentralization has also been reflected in other performing arts and some 5,000 people have participated on the stages of rural neighborhoods and more than a thousand have attended the concert at Parque de La Paz, in the district of Torrero.
The museums and exhibition halls have received more than 6,100 visitors and the success in La Lonja has been noted with the exhibition on Zuloaga and Goya, with almost 4,000 people since last Thursday.
queries
As for the query data collected at the municipal tourist offices, there have been more than 7,000 throughout the weekend and it is reflected that the pace is maintained with 7 percent of foreigners.
The average stay of visitors has been 2-3 days, 82 percent; and the main reason has been the monumental-cultural, in 79 percent of the queries.
Among the requested information, the one related to the Fiestas del Pilar stands out, 65 percent; followed by monuments and museums, 12 percent; and information in general of the city 10 percent.
The special bus to Valdespartera, which is operational all day, has an average occupancy rate of 70 percent and at the fair stop from 04:00 the traffic intensifies. It is at 05:00 hours when the vehicles descend full towards the center of the city and the line is reinforced so that there is greater fluidity. This Sunday the tram, being the Sunday of ‘Pilares’ and a football day, has accounted for more than 83,000 users.
Out of stock for purple dots
From the different security forces it has been ensured that “there are no serious incidents” and Sara Fernández has trusted that there is nothing remarkable at the Fiestas del Pilar.
He has reported that the violet dots are “greatly successful.” They are intended to support in case of incidents and at the same time carry out awareness campaigns to avoid sexist attitudes. All the materials planned for the purple dots have been exhausted, such as bracelets, tattoos and silicone dots for mobile phones, so more have been ordered. «We are happy – he has acknowledged- that people wear this material and we must not lower our guard against sexist attitudes».
October 12 °
The assembly of the structure of the Virgin for the offering of flowers began this Monday and will last until Tuesday, when at 1:00 p.m. the replica of the Virgin will be placed on top of the pyramidal structure. Last year, due to the high incidence of the coronavirus and sanitary restrictions, it had to be placed next to the Fuente de la Hispanidad, protected by a large black mesh, and “it could not be enjoyed,” he lamented.
Sara Fernández has commented that it is forecast that there will be moments of rain on Wednesday, October 12, but for now no event is suspended and as the activities are carried out, the staff of Zaragoza-Cultural, who are in all the acts, will decide if it proceeds for the protection and safety of the people who work, the artists and the public and also for technical issues. In this case, it will be announced through the usual channels such as social networks.
