Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico – The ‘Al Calor del Mariachi Summer Festival’, which we first announced last month, has added more days and activities to their schedule of events. Now set to take place June 25-July 1, new additions include a parade and ‘Maleconeada’ on June 25 and a concert on the Malecón on the 28, among others.
Here’s the full scoop, as reported by the Vallarta Opina:
For seven days the “Al calor del mariachi Summer Festival” will bring together mariachi groups from different parts of the country and abroad for workshops, concerts, exhibitions and a series of activities that will contribute to the tourist promotion of this destination.
At a press conference, Ángel Martínez, director of Mariachi Nuevo Tecalitlán and promoter of this initiative, accompanied by the City Council’s Director of Tourism and Economic Development, Christian Salvador Preciado Cázares, and Sujey Cárdenas, Public Relations Manager of the Public Trust for Promotion and Puerto Vallarta Tourism Publicity, announced the details of the first edition of this festival.
He specified that all the mariachi groups in this region – from Puerto Vallarta, Bahía de Banderas, Cabo Corrientes and Mascota – have been called to participate, but there will also be groups from Monterrey, the State of Mexico, Puebla, Colima, Guadalajara and the interior of the state, in addition to some student mariachis from Texas and California, United States.
He indicated that this festival promises to be a benchmark for mariachi in Puerto Vallarta and that June was chosen as mariachi month for future editions, for which he thanked the City Council and Professor Luis Alberto Michel Rodríguez, through the Directorate of Tourism and Economic Development, to the Tourism Trust, and to the Secretary of Tourism of the state, the support for this event in which they have been working since last year.
According to the program, he explained that the start of this festival will be on June 25 with a “Maleconeada” as the inaugural parade in which charros and mariachis from Puerto Vallarta will participate, starting at 6:00 in the afternoon. In addition, there will be an exhibition of painting and photography in the central courtyard of the municipal presidency, with works by local artists and one of international stature.
Likewise, there will be training workshops for musicians, in a well-known hotel in the city, with a three-day professionalization session for the mariachi, which will have members of Mariachi Nuevo Tecalitlán as teachers; a singing and trumpet master class, and a mariachi history class.
There will also be activities at various points in the city center and, on June 28, a concert at the Malecón Lighthouse, where the Mariachi Femenil Nuevo Tecalitlán, Joya de México will participate; the presentation of the singer Aída Cuevas and the debut of her daughter Valeria Cuevas, among other mariachis.
On June 29 there will be a gala dinner and delivery of a special award made by the maestro Rafael Zamarripa, a medal called “Mariachi, Culture and Tradition”, which will be awarded to the singer Aída Cuevas, but which is sought to be established in the following editions for a character who has contributed something to the mariachi with his talent. There, a medal will also be presented to maestro Rafael Zamarripa.
The gala dinner will be at the Sheraton Hotel, at a cost to the public and will be for a cause to support institutions in favor of culture and education, in art and music. In addition, the works of the artists who will participate in the exhibition will be offered.
On June 30 will be the main concert “Por Amor al Mariachi” at the International Convention Center, where the Mariachi Femenil Nuevo Tecalitlán, Mariachi Joya de México, Aída Cuevas, Mariachi Nuevo Tecalitlán, among others.
The festival will conclude on July 1, with a thanksgiving mass enlivened by the Mariachi Nuevo Tecalitlán, in the parish of Guadalupe, at 12:00 pm.