The Ayuntamiento agreed to suspend the San Pedro Alcántara 2020 Fair and allocate the budget for the holidays to the area of ’Social Rights’.
The mayor, Ángeles Muñoz held a meeting with the ‘brotherhood’ of the Patron Saint to agree on the cancellation and look at a way in which the ‘Big Day’ can be celebrated, on October 19, with acts that do not produce big crowds.
It was said in the meeting that, “although we had expected the decision we were making for some time, the current situation of the pandemic and the suspension of the Marbella Fair has led us to understand that a ‘celebration’ as such is not going to be possible. I think it is a sensible decision, although it hurts us all because of what it means,” he said.
However, the councilor has addressed with those responsible for the brotherhood that the celebration of commemorative events around ‘their’ holiday to make it a ‘solemn day’. It was also announced that the Government team will make a budgetary modification so that the funds allocated for the fair goes directly to Social Rights, as happened in the case of the Marbella fair. It was stated that the priorities right now are for the care of the most vulnerable people, where there is great demand, so it is necessary to allocate all the money that they have to caring for them.
The older brother of the Brotherhood of San Pedro de Alcántara, Miguel Ángel Mata, explained “we have always been very clear that we were not going to put anyone at risk for possible contagion.” He therefore pointed out that a few weeks ago their Governing Board made the decision that the acts planned for 2020 were going to be ‘controlled’ as much as possible, He declared that “the most important and painful measure for us has been to decide that the Patron Saint will not process through the streets on October 19 of this year.” We will limit ourselves solely and exclusively to the acts that will take place in the parish for the three days prior to San Pedro.
In addition they are considering, together with the City Council, the possibility that mass could be held in a place with limited capacity, outdoors and guaranteeing all security measures are in place.