Showing posts with label Vilafranca de Bonany. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vilafranca de Bonany. Show all posts
Saturday, July 08, 2017
The Coca-Cola Square Of Vilafranca
They're going to create a new square in Vilafranca de Bonany. It will cost just short of a quarter of a million euros and involve the transformation of a disused plot of land in a part of the village where there is currently an absence of public spaces. There will be orange trees, a fountain with small fish, and shade for the elderly to practise some physical jerks. The elderly are quite important in this regard, for this will be the square for the Vilafranca grandfather of Coca-Cola.
In 2009, Pep Mascaró acquired a certain fame. He was well-known in Vilafranca but not outside the village. He had lived a long life. He was 102, with six children, 33 grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren. Yet he was to give a message that life can seem short. It was part of the global campaign "Open Happiness" developed by McCann-Erickson for Coca-Cola.
L’amo en Pep de Son Bats was how he was known in Vilafranca. He had appeared on a programme for the IB3 broadcaster and was then put forward by one of his numerous relatives as a candidate to take the central role in an advert to be developed by McCann-Erickson on behalf of Coca-Cola España. The grandfather of Vilafranca, as he was also known, undertook a special journey. He took his first plane journey to meet a newborn baby, Aitana, and to convey a message of happiness.
"Hello Aitana, my name is Josep Mascaró and I am 102 years old. I'm lucky, lucky to have been born, like you. To have been able to hug my wife, to have met my friends, to have said goodbye to them. You will wonder what the reason is for my coming to see you today. Many people will tell you what to think of about these times: that there is crisis, that you cannot ... . Ah! ... This will make you strong: I have known worse moments than this, but in the end the only thing you're going to remember is the good times. Do not dwell on the nonsenses. Find what makes you happy. Time goes very fast. I have lived 102 years and I can assure you that the only thing you will not like about life is that it will seem too short. You're here to be happy."
Pep died in August 2012 at the age of 105. He had attributed his long life to his simple farming upbringing, to his never having smoked, to his having cycled and run until very late in life, to his having practised "gymnastics" - those physical jerks for the elderly. After he died, they gave him a plaque. Now, the town hall wants to give him a square.
When they build the square, they should think about putting up another plaque, one that contains Pep's message. Yes, it was of course a Coca-Cola ad designed to tug the heart strings. Some dismissed it as cynical marketing by a global multinational. Others ignored the nonsenses. They celebrated Pep's life and Pep's message.
The square will be a nice honour. The Council of Mallorca will probably end up paying for it. Perhaps Coca-Cola could chip in. There again, it might become Plaça l’amo en Pep de Son Bats, sponsored by Coke.
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
A Lovely Pair Of Melons
"Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them."
Vilafranca's annual melon fiesta and fair sadly does not last twelve nights. Were it to, then Shakespeare's line from "A Twelfth Night" would be more apposite. The fair lasts twelve nights divided by two. But greatness is, nevertheless, the theme of the fair. Greatness as in size. It matters.
Some melons are born (or rather grown) great, some achieve greatness (more than others) and some (of the growers) have greatness thrust upon them and proudly display it during the how-big-are-your-melons competition.
Showing off your melons should be the cue for a local version of Esther Rantzen to suddenly pop up with an hilarious (sic) feature for "Así Es La Vida" or, to be linguistically correct, "Així És La Vida". Simpering Cyril Fletcher would read a witty ode: "It was the competition for the meló més gros, and Tommy Morlà's meló was the grossest of them all. The gross greengrocer's contest in the village of Vilafranca, the melon 'le plus grand' in the lingua franca".
Tommy, or Tomeu to give him his usual name, has now produced the biggest melon on no fewer than five occasions. The king of the melons. Presumably he gets to keep the trophy. This year's offering was only slightly smaller, by 0.6 kilos, than the melon record-holder (a record held by Tomeu). Ooh er, missus, what a whopper.
A thing about melons is that you normally expect them to be melon-shaped. Typically, therefore, they are round or oval. The biggest melon in Vilafranca wasn't. It was more of a curved oblong. Indeed, the melon bore a startling resemblance to the biggest pumpkin in Muro during last autumn's how-big-is your-pumpkin contest, only not orange. Could it in fact be the same? A pumpkin in melon's clothing. We demand an answer.
Towns and villages across Mallorca are known for their agricultural specialisms; hence, Muro with its pumpkins, Sa Pobla with its potatoes and Vilafranca de Bonany, as it is grandly and fully known, with its melons. There should be a greengrocery guide to Mallorca and its "pueblos" and a whole new strand of alternative tourism. Forget sun and beach, here's the fruit and veg.
Such tourism might help to put Vilafranca on the map. It is on maps already, but clearly no one can find it as no one goes there. Few are likely to have even heard of the place. But were visitors to venture to Vilafranca during its melon fiesta, what fun awaits them. In addition to the biggest melon contest, there is also the melon-eating competition.
This year's winner, in the senior category, was one Pep Rosselló, who put away just under 1.8 kilos of melon in five minutes. Apparently, the secret of his success is, if you wish to try this at home, to chew and swallow. Which is pretty sound advice for most food that you put into your mouth. There is the additional bonus, where Pep is concerned, that he likes the fruit. It does help, one imagines. (If, by the way, you had read any reports of Pep's achievement in the Spanish press, you might have been forgiven for thinking that he had devoured 86 of Tomeu's 20.7 kilos of biggest melon; it's how it gets written, or at least I assume he didn't actually get through one thousand, seven hundred and ninety kilos.)
The melon-eating competition may be a bit potty, but at least it is an example of putting fruit to the purpose that it is usually intended, i.e. to be eaten, rather than thrown, which is what happens in Binissalem during its Vermar fiestas (later this month) when there is the great grape battle. There again, chucking melons at each other probably isn't a good idea, especially if they weigh over 20 kilos.
The melon fiesta is also traditional (in that 41 years of its celebration equates to being traditional), which is more than can be said for what will happen soon in the village of Bunyola which will stage its seventh come-in-your-underwear event. Cue Esther once more. Or probably not.
And the melon eating is testimony to the quality of the local fruit. According to the announcement of the MC prior to the "melon-off", the contest was to eat the "most famous melons in the world". So there we are. Vilafranca is on the map after all. It is on the globe. And the globe is melon-shaped, which in Vilafranca is like an oblong.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Vilafranca's annual melon fiesta and fair sadly does not last twelve nights. Were it to, then Shakespeare's line from "A Twelfth Night" would be more apposite. The fair lasts twelve nights divided by two. But greatness is, nevertheless, the theme of the fair. Greatness as in size. It matters.
Some melons are born (or rather grown) great, some achieve greatness (more than others) and some (of the growers) have greatness thrust upon them and proudly display it during the how-big-are-your-melons competition.
Showing off your melons should be the cue for a local version of Esther Rantzen to suddenly pop up with an hilarious (sic) feature for "Así Es La Vida" or, to be linguistically correct, "Així És La Vida". Simpering Cyril Fletcher would read a witty ode: "It was the competition for the meló més gros, and Tommy Morlà's meló was the grossest of them all. The gross greengrocer's contest in the village of Vilafranca, the melon 'le plus grand' in the lingua franca".
Tommy, or Tomeu to give him his usual name, has now produced the biggest melon on no fewer than five occasions. The king of the melons. Presumably he gets to keep the trophy. This year's offering was only slightly smaller, by 0.6 kilos, than the melon record-holder (a record held by Tomeu). Ooh er, missus, what a whopper.
A thing about melons is that you normally expect them to be melon-shaped. Typically, therefore, they are round or oval. The biggest melon in Vilafranca wasn't. It was more of a curved oblong. Indeed, the melon bore a startling resemblance to the biggest pumpkin in Muro during last autumn's how-big-is your-pumpkin contest, only not orange. Could it in fact be the same? A pumpkin in melon's clothing. We demand an answer.
Towns and villages across Mallorca are known for their agricultural specialisms; hence, Muro with its pumpkins, Sa Pobla with its potatoes and Vilafranca de Bonany, as it is grandly and fully known, with its melons. There should be a greengrocery guide to Mallorca and its "pueblos" and a whole new strand of alternative tourism. Forget sun and beach, here's the fruit and veg.
Such tourism might help to put Vilafranca on the map. It is on maps already, but clearly no one can find it as no one goes there. Few are likely to have even heard of the place. But were visitors to venture to Vilafranca during its melon fiesta, what fun awaits them. In addition to the biggest melon contest, there is also the melon-eating competition.
This year's winner, in the senior category, was one Pep Rosselló, who put away just under 1.8 kilos of melon in five minutes. Apparently, the secret of his success is, if you wish to try this at home, to chew and swallow. Which is pretty sound advice for most food that you put into your mouth. There is the additional bonus, where Pep is concerned, that he likes the fruit. It does help, one imagines. (If, by the way, you had read any reports of Pep's achievement in the Spanish press, you might have been forgiven for thinking that he had devoured 86 of Tomeu's 20.7 kilos of biggest melon; it's how it gets written, or at least I assume he didn't actually get through one thousand, seven hundred and ninety kilos.)
The melon-eating competition may be a bit potty, but at least it is an example of putting fruit to the purpose that it is usually intended, i.e. to be eaten, rather than thrown, which is what happens in Binissalem during its Vermar fiestas (later this month) when there is the great grape battle. There again, chucking melons at each other probably isn't a good idea, especially if they weigh over 20 kilos.
The melon fiesta is also traditional (in that 41 years of its celebration equates to being traditional), which is more than can be said for what will happen soon in the village of Bunyola which will stage its seventh come-in-your-underwear event. Cue Esther once more. Or probably not.
And the melon eating is testimony to the quality of the local fruit. According to the announcement of the MC prior to the "melon-off", the contest was to eat the "most famous melons in the world". So there we are. Vilafranca is on the map after all. It is on the globe. And the globe is melon-shaped, which in Vilafranca is like an oblong.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
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