With the presentation of the announcing poster, Benidorm begins the countdown of its Festes Majors Patronals

The mayor, Toni Pérez; the queens, Aila Merenciano and Chloe d'Hebboudt; together with the Councilor for Fiestas, Jesús Carrobles, and the president of the Comissió, José Vicente Fuster, they were in charge of discovering the design, the work of the artist from Lorca and Benidorm by adoption, Jaime Sobejano, which will remain until next year, as dictated by the tradition, on the facade of the municipal building El Torrejó.

Previously, an aerial bombardment was fired at Plaza de Castelar at noon and in the afternoon, foremen, queens, ladies, flag bearer and family, honour foremen and members of the Municipal Corporation met at the Casa del Festes 'Diego Cano Enguera ', to pick up the image of the apostle and go through the city centre in a street parade and arrive at Plaça del Torrejó.

Jaime Sobejano outlined some details of his work in which the Mare de Déu del Sofratge and Sant Jaume, patron saints of the city, are reflected as a single symbol. "A set - he said - striking, colourful and cheerful, concepts associated with our parties and that try to make this poster a worthy representation of the feeling that we all share."

The poster is complemented by a QR code, located at the bottom, which allows access to complementary multimedia content in an "extended poster version" that delves into Sobejano's work and how he has incorporated the essence of the Festes Majors Patronals into the poster from Benidorm.

Lastly, Toni Pérez spoke to those gathered to remind them that Benidorm has certain dates "that drive its calendar", such as March 16, the Arrival of the Mare de Déu; July 25, Sant Jaume Day, “patron saint of Benidorm and patron saint of Spain”; and the second Sunday of November “when we celebrate our Festes Majors Patronals”.

"In our calendar - emphasized the mayor - we have always known how to stagger these three historical dates linked to the festival with different acts, one of them, very important as we have done this afternoon, discovering the poster announcing our festivals".

Toni Pérez thanked “the effort” made by the Comissió in presenting an “innovative” poster that will be the cover “of the most anticipated book [the Llibre Oficial de les Festes Majors Patronals 2022] after a time marked by the pandemic and the restrictions in which we have lost so many things and so many people.” The mayor ended his speech with the usual cheers for the Virgin, the apostle and Benidorm.

A little later, the Parish Church of Sant Jaume and Santa Anna hosted a sung Eucharist in honour of the patron saint. At its conclusion, in the Plaça de Sant Jaume, the traditional 'estampeta' was fired and the queens and ladies danced the 'Ball del Peuet'.

A fireworks display set off by the Ricasa pyrotechnics and a popular verbena in Plaça de Castelar put the end of the day dedicated by Benidorm to its patron.