No. 22 - Its Gran Canaria Magazine

22
INTERVIEW I ENTREVISTA Nº 22
2nd Deputy Mayor
Councillor for the Department of Socio-community Services, Personal Assistance, Quality of Life and Economic Promotion
D. Oliverio de los Reyes Armas Guillén
“This year’s Christmas programme is designed so
that everyone can enjoy themselves outdoors”
Less than a decade ago, Arucas was a charming
municipality, just as it is now, but with the small inconvenience
of being an awkward distance from
the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Today, with
the construction of the ring road, it is only ten
minutes away from the centre of the capital. This
new found accessibility has become an advantage
for the town, making it easier for visitors to get to
know an area that continues to keep its strong personality
intact and that at this time of the year, is
enhanced by its Christmas charm.
Arucas indeed has a special Christmas charm...
Without a doubt. We have just had a wonderful
time with the Fiestas of San Juan, and now, with
Christmas looming, we are not only looking to recover
the time we have lost due to the pandemic,
but also for people to get together properly again,
in a more normal way, as was the case before.
This year's Christmas programme is designed so
that everyone can enjoy themselves outdoors, both
in the events we have put together and through
the shops and gastronomy that are booming. At
the beginning of December we started with the
switching on of the Christmas lights - this year we
have, for the first time, Christmas lights in Parque
de las Flores -; we also have video mapping, we
have different Nativity scenes around the town,
such as the sand scene, and the traditional one in
the Municipal Cultural Centre.
This year’s Christmas lights are wonderful…
We are trying to ensure that people can enjoy
themselves outdoors, in the old town centre. It is
also worth mentioning that the lighting department
has put up Christmas lights around all the
neighbourhoods, as has been done for several
years now, but this year we have taken it a stage
further. That is to say, that the people around every
single neighbourhood of Arucas can experience a
Christmassy atmosphere.
The streets are brightly lit to make the outdoor
shopping area accessible and very convenient for
residents and visitors alike. In this regard, many
years ago a refurbishment project was started, for
example, in Calle León y Castillo and around the
Church and thanks to this, we now have a pedestrianised
street full of businesses with practically all
the premises occupied. It has had a really positive
impact.
The ring road has also brought Arucas closer to
the capital...
It has, although people have always come from
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and from the North...
we are the head of the region and that means that
many people come here and are able to enjoy our
gastronomy, to enjoy the artistic landscape that we
have in the municipality, not only the Church, but
also its streets, the Municipal Park, and so on.
And now, with Christmas upon us, a number of
events are coming up that will enhance an already
busy cultural agenda.
We have put together a top quality cultural and
leisure programme that allows people to come to
Arucas and enjoy acts such as Efecto Pasillo, Cristina
Ramos, Nena Daconte and Pedro Guerra. This
Christmas programme is a very full one indeed.
Many of these concerts are held in a very specific,
intimate and privileged setting. In fact, to get a
ticket for some of these concerts you must enter
a draw.
An online platform has been launched to promote
the establishments around Arucas, in which they
can publish their latest products with a link to their
online shop so that the user can get easy access
to all the local establishments and complete their
purchase directly with the seller. In other words,
we have tried to digitalise traditional commerce
through the website www.regalatearucas.com.
This not only enables shops to digitise their business,
but raffles are also held, for instance, for people
who have made purchases of over €20 to win
tickets for a specific concert.
The Gran Canaria Bestial Race is also held at this
time…
By the time readers have got their hands on this
magazine, we will have just finished the 10th annual
Gran Canaria Bestial Race, an event that historically,
apart from the first edition, has always been
held in Arucas. This year, runners face two new
routes in the sports complex, starting and finishing
in the Barreto area, with 50 obstacles and a spectacular
set-up. It is a first class and fully established
event, in which 1,600 people take part, and which
attracts around 5,000 people all together over the
whole weekend, with all that this means.
We finally come to the iconic image of the
Church of Arucas...
The church is our flagship monument. It was financed
by a group of wealthy people at the time,
together with donations from local citizens. Almost
as important as the church are the people who
worked on its construction, because they form a
fundamental part of our history: the labourers of
Arucas.
At the beginning of the 20th century, at one of the
most prestigious quarries in Gran Canaria, in La
Goleta, there could have been over 1,000 labourers
working. The actual construction of the church
took place in several stages. The initial stage was at
the beginning of the 20th century, and again later,
between 1968 and 1969, when money was injected
again to finish the last tower. Few people are still
around today from this last process.
What I mean by this is that it is important for people
visiting Arucas to go to the Tourist Office and
ask for an explanation of why the church is the way
it is, why the stone was used as it was, and the importance
of the people who worked on the stone.
Many of them later worked on emblematic buildings
in Las Palmas or Tenerife. That really is what
our history is about.