The Salobreña Councillor for Fiestas (sounds like a nice job) Mª José García, has announced that the two local business associations ACESA and ACEPS have finished counting the votes in the referendum on when to hold this year’s Romería. The results are the following:

The 6th of October: 121 votes in favour
The 30th of October: 95 votes in favour
Votes declared null and void: 12

So, 228 votes were placed in the eight voting urns, distributed around the town. The Councillor for Scoffing & Boozing… sorry… Fiestas, admitting that participation wasn’t exactly ‘massive,’ but that she was happy with it, “We are happy because we have given the local citizenry the chance to decide upon the date for such a symbolic fiesta as the Romería del Sur and therefore we must respect the results. We hope that people understand that it is very difficult to find a solution that pleases everybody,” she concluded.

Anyway, all this came about because once every nine years the Romería de Sur clashes with the Village Patron Saint and not even the Andalusians can celebrate two fiestas simultaneously without blacking out.

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