Just two and a half months to go Barcelona risk their future at the polls, the effervescent sector of the bars and restaurants in Barcelona can boast of having lived a day of glory in terms of convening power at the annual party for the festivity of Santa Eulalia. The situation invited to have a high-flying lineup, in a social photo in which the mayors or their representatives they should be So Ada Colauwhich usually avoids acts related to the Guild of Restoration of Barcelona, He has painted his best smile to return to this annual event that he has not set foot on since 2019, a year, by the way, also an electoral one. The act of this Wednesday has opted for the festive tone and sectoral recovery, with a guest of honor who has shone in the resurrected party room Dove, Boris Izaguirre, dropping one pearl after another. But the mayoress has not missed the opportunity to shoehorn her rally and join the achievements of a sector with which she has maintained eight years of roller coaster relationship and many frontal clashes, smoothed over by her socialist government partner Jaume Collboni.
Dove has set the stage, vindicating itself after a closure of 16 years (motivated by noise, neighborhood complaints and municipal sanctions), in an act full of intention. With the room full and the evident pre-election climate, each word has been digested and calibrated with a magnifying glass. Thus, the debut of Salva Vendrell, the new president of the union, has opted for a conciliatory air to praise the “transversality” of the event, in which the public, private and arts sectors “shake hands as should be natural and “must push the city in the right direction.” Or the recovery of activity after the tsunami of the pandemic.
Minutes later, it was the turn of Colau and although the presenter Imma Sust has exonerated her of the blame for the closure of the mythical room –“you weren’t there then”, she said jokingly–, the mayoress has become part of its history (“in this jewel where all we have danced”), the happy ending and even the good progress of hiring in the restaurant sector. By then the whispers of the businessmen were almost uncontrollable. They did not forget the ‘war of the terraces’, the increases in rates, the cuts in some streets and squares, the inspections and the obstacles to consolidate the covid nightstands, which have been a thousand, after ruling out almost 2,000 and after the crusade of the employer about it. “We do not have to receive lessons from anyone”, she has congratulated herself, referring to the case of Madrid (with more liberal policies), she has intervened. “We have overcome it together; we have come out of the crisis by growing in activity and on terraces,” she said without blushing.
Elevator between high and low culture
With all the mayors shaking in their seats, the mood of Xavier Sarda, by presenting the Venezuelan writer and presenter they have restored the party atmosphere to the celebration. Sardà, to whom Colau had alluded as a “always” character like La Paloma, joked that he should be referring to (his alter ego) the Mr. Casamajor, not him, by age. She has assured that she did not start doing television until Boris landed in that distant ‘Martian Chronicles’, to become a star. And the multifaceted Izaguirre, “character” but “also a person”, has then conquered the audience by recalling the times when he invited himself to events, and how life has led him to be “the guest” of honor.
Demonstrating his role as a media phenomenon, he has not hesitated to claim the “dialogue between Barcelona and Madrid”, because one brings internationality and the other a power that both would also like for themselves, he thinks. Remembering his friend Terenci Moix, who taught him so much about Barcelona, and to the sting of the large representation of Junts and the old Convergència, he has claimed a city of “two languages, or six or eight” that enrich it. Boris lived on Mirallers street, in Santa Caterina, Sant Pere i la Ribera, and also on Capitán Arenas street, in the upper area, he has confessed, proud as Moix raised him, to represent the “elevator between high and low culture”.
At the foot of the dance floor, the social party, warmed up with many toasts and tapas, and with the electoral pools almost as a monotheme. From the socialist flank, Jaume Collboni and Maria Eugènia Gay (also in passion red, like the mayoress) have dedicated themselves to the pre-campaign, taking advantage of a forum full of businessmen from restaurants and commerce, above all. But Trias (due to another commitment) and Maragall have notably been absent, while the groups suffered risking tripartites, unwanted alliances for many, possible betrayals and useful voteswhile devouring the catering.
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Among the river of assistants have been the former president of the Generalitat José Montilla; deputy mayors Janet Sanz and Albert Batlle, municipal councilors of all stripes, deputies Carlos Carrizosa, Assumpta Escarp, Ramon Tremosa and Anna Grau. Even former municipal councilors such as Jordi William Carnes, Katy Carreras, Elsa Artadi or Alberto Fernández Díaz; or ‘ex-consellers’ such as Jordi Turull and Santi Vila. Presidents of all the employer associations, actors, chefs, architects, designers and journalists, have covered the sarao.