For the first time, the Almunecar Summer Fair will be open during the day, as well as late into the night – not everybody is happy with this.

Starting from the 11th, around a dozen bar-stalls will be operating in Call Pintor Rivera, which is in the P-4 part of town

“We want the fair to be the meeting point for visitors and residents from 12 midday until 6 in the evening. With this in mind, we are counting on 11 associations/clubs that will set up a bar each, offering food and drinks,” explained the new Mayoress, Trinidad Herrera.

The main fair has 14 casetas, with the political parties having one each as well as the Semana Santa Cofradias (Brotherhoods). The political parties are squabbling amongst themselves over the allotment of space; the ex-Mayor’s party has three modules whereas the IU have to make do with only 1.5.

Live music will be allowed until 3 in the morning on the 9th, 10th, 11th & 15th and weekend nights (12th, 13th & 14th) which equates to two hours extra.

The reason that not everybody is happy concerns a long standing grievance: bars and restaurants have to slog all year through, paying their taxes and rates, only for the political parties and cofradias to come along during the peak holiday period and skim off the cream… without having to pay a penny in tax. Now, to top it all off, the summer fair is going to operate during the day, which was the only time that standard businesses had to make any money.

Ah, well, you can’t expect politicians to regulate themselves or be reasonable, can you, especially where there is money to be made?

(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)