Motril Town Council has hired a private company to run the Three Kings Parade this Christmas for the first time.

The Asociación Procabalgata had organised this children’s event for the last five decades and allegedly owing to a lack of support from the Town Council ended up having to sell their 3-Kings floats.

The contract for organising the event had come to an end. The volunteer organisation was going into debt and couldn’t carry on, it seems, so imagine the stir when the Town Council decided to go private and hire a company with a budget dediciation for the parade of 115,000 euros, whereas under the volunteers, it had only been 15,000 euros!

Mayor Luisa García Chamorro explained before the gathered press that the organisation of this event will be carried out through a service contract to “guarantee the quality, safety and sustainability of the most magical night of the year.”

She then admitted that, “The Motril Town Council does not have materials, floats, sound equipment or specialised personnel.” Nope, it was done by the volunteers before who supplied most of it, helped by the Town Hall.

So, the Town Council decided to outsource the event organisation to a company that has experience running The Three Kings in other towns. Within this 115k budget is included the building of 13 floats, a civil-liability insurance, sound equipment, and other logistical elements.

The Mayor says that In addition to this change, Motril families will not have to pay for their children to participate (other than through their taxes, that is) which is a change from the previous arrangement. By participate, we mean on the floats rather than watching them go by.

Naturally, the opposition parties have had a field day, joined by a large slice of public opinion, because of this huge increase in the budget, viewed as “excessive.”

The Mayor counters that the amount that will be spent is “similar to some other municipalities of the same size.”

So, how did the Procabalgata Association finance the parade when they were doing it? Basically through raffles, donations and advertising sponsorship. They, as can be imagined, are not happy bunnies over the way that the Three Kings Parade has transitioned.

Chairman of the said association, Manuel Martín, regrets that the Town Council has not chosen to collaborate with them to continue with the previous set up, which managed to raise more than 53,000 euros annually independently, with the support of volunteers and small municipal subsidies.

Editorial comment: well, after falling out with the Policía Local big time, as well as the municipal cleaning workers, they’ve now, seemingly, managed to royally roger the Royals. Well, the kids will be the judge of that, won’t they?

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

Keywords: Three Kings Parade, Volunteers, Asociación Procabalgata, Town Council, Budget, Opposition, Controversy, Mayor Chamorro