The city commemorates 50 years of the Queens of the Festes Majors and the staging of Trobada de la Mare de Déu with an exhibition

In 2021, it is half a century since the figure of the Queen and Ladies of the Festes Majors Patronals and the first representation of the Trobada de la Mare de Déu del Sofratge was established in Benidorm. To commemorate both events, the Benidorm City Council Party Department, in collaboration with the Department of Historical and Cultural Heritage, has prepared an exhibition at the Boca del Calvari museum that reviews these 50 years of Queens and Ladies, and the staging of the finding of the patron.
This was announced today by the mayor, Toni Pérez, at a press conference together with the councilors of Festivities and Historical and Cultural Heritage, Jesús Carrobles and Ana Pellicer, and in which the first Queen of the Festes Majors Patronals also participated, Pepa Zaragoza, and the president of ARC La Barqueta, Francisco Llorens.
As reported by the mayor, the exhibition will open on November 12; it will open to the public the next day, ‘el dissabte de Festes’; and it can be visited until January 9 "to facilitate that the maximum number of residents and tourists can enjoy it."
Toni Pérez explained that the emergence of the figure of the Queens and the staging of the Trobada, promoted at that time by a group of volunteers linked to the theater and the Commission of that year 1971, represented "a turning point in the development of the celebrations in Honor of the Mare de Déu del Sofratge and Sant Jaume Apòstol ”. From that moment on, he has stated, the festivities “grew bigger and won us more splendor”, until they became the celebrations that we “know and enjoy” today.
The mayor has highlighted that from the City Council "this exhibition has been promoted with great care and with the utmost affection" both to the women who have held the position of Queens during this half century and to the act that "embodies a reliable historical fact", the finding of the patron saint, which has the status of a Festival of Autonomous Tourist Interest.
An exhibition for which the complicity and collaboration of ARC La Barqueta and the protagonists of these 50 years of Queens or their families has been counted on, and in which, for example, there will be a tour of "the evolution of the costumes and props for the greatest figure of the Festes and for the women who have held this position over half a century, starting with Pepa Zaragoza Ivars, Reina in 1971, or Mari Carmen Such Ronda, who was the first child queen in 1972 ”. In the same way, the exhibition “will show and bring the public the history and evolution of the staging of the "Trobada de la Mare de Déu”.
Toni Pérez has assured that through these two festive milestones, the exhibition "delves a lot into Benidorm and its history in these last 50 years".
Regarding the arrangement of the exhibition, the mayor has advanced that the access floor to the museum "will function as a claim, presenting to the public what they will find on the three floors of Boca del Calvari." Specifically, part of the exhibition space on the mezzanine floor will be dedicated to the Queens and the other half to the staging of the 'Trobada'. The 'Trobada' that will be the main character on floor -1 of the museum; while the one dedicated to the Queens will occupy the first and second floors. The exhibition will be accompanied by music and multimedia.

Commemorative book of '50 years of Queens'

Apart from this exhibition, the City Council has designed "a second action" to "enhance" the figure of the Queens in Festes Majors Patronals, a compilation book of these 50 years, which will be published shortly. Both the cover of this publication and the poster announcing the exhibition are works by Mª Carmen Zaragoza Soriano, from Benidorm.