The mayor of Casasimarro, Óscar Pina, has been the organizer and has highlighted “the ties that unite both towns”
The House of La Mancha in Benidorm crowns Yolanda Marcos as Queen of the Grape Harvest
Toni Pérez highlights that La Mancha and Benidorm are united by “a common culture”
Organised by the Casa de La Mancha in Benidorm, with the collaboration of the Department of Festivals, the Town Hall's Assembly Hall has hosted this afternoon the thirtieth edition of the Grape Harvest Festival, which has proclaimed Yolanda Marcos as its Queen 2024-2025.
During her reign, Yolanda Marcos will be accompanied as maids of honour by Sandra Alarcón, Aitana Galiana, Isabel Torres, Lorena Balbas, Elisa Sampedro and Elisa Choza.
The Mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, together with the Councillor for Festivals, Mariló Cebreros, and other members of the corporation have participated in this edition of the Grape Harvest Festival; also the regional deputy, José Ramón González de Zárate, the Senior Queens in Children of the Festes Majors Patronals 2024, Valentina Almodóbar and Laia Zamora; The president of the Commission, María Dolores Cano, and the president of the Association of Pensions, Jaime Cortés, as well as representatives of different local festive groups who have supported, on their big day, the Casa de La Mancha in the city and its president, Loren Torres.
The outgoing queen, Alba Jiménez, who is the new queen's daughter, stated in her speech that it has been “an honour and a pride to represent the city from my roots” and has thanked President Loren Torres “for everything she has done”. Thanks that she has extended to her court, godmother, partners, friends, family, her grandmother and her mother. I have wished, of course, “all the best to the queen and the new court of honour”.
On this occasion, the herald was Óscar Pina, mayor of the town of Casasimarro, who has emphasised that it is a “solidary and hard-working town, which lives off agriculture and has logistics companies related to the service sector”. She highlighted the cultivation of mushrooms “which is disappearing” and “the manufacture of guitars, which have been purchased by artists from all over the world”. Pina remembered the people who came to Benidorm from Casasimarro in the 70s “many of whom stayed here to form a family and today we are united by ties of friendship between the two towns”.
Then it was the turn of the folkloric group Albatros who performed and danced traditional dances from La Mancha. Once the performance was over, President Loren Torres congratulated Yolanda Marcos and congratulated the outgoing queen “great ambassadors of La Mancha”.
The event was closed by the mayor Toni Pérez, who welcomed “all the people of Benidorm” and said that “We celebrate this festival by crowning a queen who has always worked hard for it” emphasizing the fact that “Yolanda succeeds her daughter Alba in the reign”. Toni Pérez also stressed that Benidorm and La Mancha “are united by many ties, but also by folklore and a common culture”. The event concluded with the festival entities present paying homage to the new queen of La Mancha and her court.
