Sisters Lucía and Naiara Moreno Novella, crowned queens of the Imalsa II Festivities

With the crowning of sisters Lucía and Naiara Moreno Rovella as the Senior and Child Queens of this year's Imalsa II festivities, the celebrations in this neighbourhood began last night and will continue throughout the weekend. The festivities are organised by a committee celebrating its forty-second anniversary this year and is chaired by Juan Ramón Pérez Ruiz.

More than two hundred people met at an event that was attended by the Mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez; the Councillor for Festivals, Mariló Cebreros; and other members of the corporation, such as the Councillor for Mobility and Urban Space, Francis Muñoz, who acted as the organiser.

Among the attendees were the regional deputy José Ramón González de Zárate, the queens of the Festes Majors Patronals, Valentina Almodóbar and Laia Zamora, their maids of honour, the vice-president of the Comissió de Festes Majors, Alfonso Segarra, the president of the Associació de Penyes, Jaime Cortés, and the parish priest of San Francisco de Asís, Francisco Juan Galiana.

After the crowning of this year's queens by the outgoing queens Rocío Huertas Gallego and Lucía Martínez Zurdo and a minute's silence for the deceased neighbours, Francis Muñoz read his speech in which he emphasised that "this neighbourhood is part of the soul of Benidorm" in which this weekend "the fusion of the past and present is celebrated because the neighbourhood has witnessed the transformation of the city".

Muñoz recalled that Imalsa is “a land that was once a field and the foundation of what would later become the neighbourhood, a neighbourhood that grew and changed as the city did”. In his speech, however, he stressed how “the sense of permanence in the neighbourhood” has remained constant. “You are a fundamental part of the history of Benidorm” he pointed out that “we have learned that the most important thing is the feeling of unity, which allows us to face any challenge”. Muñoz concluded by saying that “with the joy that characterises the neighbourhood we celebrate these festivities with our eyes set on the future”.

After the opening speech, the mayor took the floor to congratulate the queens for the reign that they begin, as always, in the square presided over by a large ficus “which we have seen grow, like the neighbourhood”. He thanked the outgoing queens “for the year they have made us go through” and congratulated “the two sisters who are now the queens”.

Toni Pérez, like Francis Muñoz, highlighted “the sense of belonging” and said that “the neighbourhood projects and makes the city”. “And that is what this community of neighbours has done, which maintains an essence that must not be lost,” he said. The mayor concluded that “we need generations of children and adults committed to the present to have the best future”.

After the mayor's words, the festive entities present paid homage to the new queens, the hymns of Benidorm and the Valencian Community were played and the fireworks put an end to the event, after which neighbours and guests enjoyed a popular ‘picaeta’, (snack).