This year the town crier of the Mijas Fair has been the athlete José Manuel Cerezo, who on Saturday kicked off the Mijas Fair with a proclamation in which through memories, feelings and comedy he presented a detailed description of the evolution of the fair over the last four decades. 

Surrounded by friends, family, neighbours, representatives of groups and the municipal corporation, Cerezo took the stage and began his speech. His first words were to thank the Town Hall for trusting him, to his parents and, to all those people who in one way or another, have contributed to the Mijas Fair. Cerezo also recalled that athletics is a hard and solitary sport that requires a lot of discipline, highlighting that during the competition seasons he had to make many sacrifices but, as luck would have it, the seasons ended at the end of August, just before the Mijas Fair, of which this year he is the town crier. 

 

For more than an hour he told the story of the ‘Cerezo's fair’, a fair of races: sack races, ribbon races, egg and spoon races and ‘the popular marathon’, nowadays known as the Fair Race. 

 

Acknowledgement 

The Mijas Town Hall thanked Cerezo for the words he dedicated to the fair and to his town. At the end of the proclamation, the mayoress, Ana Mata (PP), together with the councillor for Festivities and Traditions, Silvia Marín (PP), presented him with a plaque. "I believe that a person who has worked so hard to reach such a high level in his profession and vocation as an athlete, deserves, without a doubt, to have the opportunity to make this speech, in which he has made a historical journey. We have seen many images that have brought back memories of the fair's past", said the mayoress of Mijas, who added that she was "very satisfied with the proclamation, because it has been up to par and we can only congratulate him". 

For his part, the town crier, once he had finished his speech, said that "I think it went very well. I have tried to explain what I feel, how I have experienced the fair, linked to my sport, to the Barrio, where I am from. For me it has been beautiful, it came from the bottom of my heart". He also claimed to have felt very supported on such a special night that will surely be on the podium of his memories. 

 

Olympic athlete

José Manuel Cerezo took over from Cristóbal Gambero, town crier of the 2023 fair, another mijeño, who in his speech took the opportunity to highlight the sporting career of the 2024 town crier, with whom he shares memories from his childhood. "That lanky boy with a smile on his face, I thought he would one day achieve great things. It didn't take long for the results to happen, races he entered, races he would win prizes and one day he gave us the big news, it was in 1992, when he was proclaimed Junior Outdoor Spanish Champion on the tracks of Carranque in Malaga", he recounted from the lectern. Gambero also highlighted the year 1994, when Cerezo was Spanish champion and seventh in the European Championships, the athlete from Mijas finally fulfilled his dream: "in 2000 he represented our country in the Sydney Olympics in Australia, finishing 35th among the 60 competitors".

Mijas, an artistic land 

There were plenty of surprises and funny moments, in fact, in the fourth sevillana, the town crier appeared dressed in a skirt with a train, honouring the tradition of dressing in faralae for the day fair. 

 

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