The pyrotechnicians shuffle together and may decide NOT to fire the mascletaes of the Fallas 2021...
The gunpowder masters explain that they need help like those promised to the artists from Fallas because otherwise they will disappear!
The Valencian pyrotechnicians assure that they are on the brink of the precipice, for this reason, they have reached the point of considering not shooting in the Fallas of 2021 in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento. It is not a threat or a measure of pressure, they assure that it is a consequence of the difficult situation in which the massive cancellation of shots has left them in the fallas of neighborhoods and towns as well as in the patron saint festivals.
The issue is serious, so much so that next Monday a little more than twenty companies in the sector are going to meet to analyze the situation and one of the points of debate that will be on the agenda is precisely whether they leave or not to shoot mascletaes in the gunpowder capital.
The fact of uncovering this thunder box, as they detail, is due to many circumstances. First, the cancellation of festive events and fireworks shooting is leaving the ‘rocket’ union with no income. In addition, they explain that they have addressed the Valencia City Council and the Generalitat and have not received support.
“We have knocked on doors and the support is null. The situation of the sector is bad, no, the following, because there is no shooting in Fallas, neither in village commissions nor in summer celebrations”, says José Caballer, of Hermanos Caballer.
José M. Crespo, from Pirotecnia Valenciana, explains that "in the 2020 Fallas we were left without firing due to the state of alert and I have the material stored and we have not been paid anything."
From the Consistory, the Councilor for Festive Culture, Carlos Galiana, indicated the same day that the definitive suspension of the 2020 Fallas was announced, that they were going to pay 80% of the billing to the companies that were going to shoot in the plaza, but According to sources consulted, the conditions or the fine print required make it impossible to reach such an agreement.
José. M. Crespo details that "we need the same aid that has been promised to the artists from Fallas. I'm glad they did it, but if the artists didn't plant, we also did a show design and manufacture and we were left without firing it”.
Vicente Cervera, from Turis pyrotechnics, adds that “we feel abandoned by the administrations and it is time to raise the issue of whether or not we do mascletaes in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento. First, because half the companies next year do not even exist and, second, because if no aid is given, it is unfeasible that there be a calendar with 19 mascletaes”.
Although it will not be until Monday when a decision is made, Caballer indicates that "the time has come for us to be taken into account, for us not to be ignored and to turn the tortilla over."
All of them assure that for years they have come to the appointment of the Plaza del Ayuntamiento losing money. They even quantify that for a mascletà “between 9,000 and 12,000 euros can be lost and for a firework show another 12,000 euros. "And now when we need support, we have not had it from any administration," says José Caballer. In addition, Crespo adds that "I do not know any trade that goes to a place to lose money." That is why they explain that if there are no aids and improvements in the shooting conditions it will be impossible.
To all this, as Ricardo Caballer of Pirotecnia RICASA explains, is added the fact that, “firework workers are not under any heading of the state of alarm. We want the ministry and the Generalitat to position themselves because we do not understand that people gather in bars, take walks on the beach or go to flea markets and cannot see a show outdoors or in towns that are not more than 1,000 people and do not dare to hire us in case they don't let you do the event”!
We will keep you posted after Monday’s meeting...
Source: Las Provincias