Holika and Gran Reserva will remain in Calahorra. Negotiations between the City Council and the company Burcor Producciones to maintain the two festivals in the city have borne fruit, and both events will continue in the town. The tensions between the organisation and the local Administration, after the last festival, have now been resolved, having reached a new agreement so that at least the next three editions of both Holika and Gran Reserva will continue in the two thousand year old city.
What has the City Council been able to offer to maintain both events in Calahorra? The mayor, Mónica Arceiz, explained in a press conference called this afternoon, to announce the agreement, that they will continue to “invest in the infrastructure of that space, where the festivals take place (the area around the cathedral and the Cidacos park), so that its capacity can increase to at least 25,000 people (daily).” «Holika is growing and it also needed the space in which it is located to grow in order to increase its capacity», the mayor has specified. In addition, the City Council has increased the amounts received with respect to the sponsorship contract for this year’s editions. Thus, Burcor will receive 250,000 euros for the organisation of Holika and another 100,000 euros for Gran Reserva. In total, it is 350,000 euros, compared to the 233,600 euros of the last two editions (193,000 euros for Holika and almost 40,000 for Gran Reserva). «We understand that it had to be done this way, because Calahorra, and I am talking about Calahorra in general, demanded it», Arceiz has added, who has indicated to the company that «you are in the best city to hold these festivals and in the best place in the city». On the other hand, the mayor has stressed the importance that both festivals will have for the municipality to be replicated in March of next year in Miami, because “Calahorra is going to be promoted in the United States.”
The IU councillor, Oscar Moreno, has also participated in the negotiations to set the two festivals in Calahorra for three more years, who has recalled his commitment to this event since “2017” when he travelled to Navarra to see the Holika festival in its first editions. That is why “as far as this group is concerned, we could not allow both Gran Reserva and Holika to leave the city.”
The CEO of Burcor, Mario Cornago, has recognised that the negotiations have been “complicated” above all due to the fact of having four economic offers on the table to celebrate the festival in other autonomous communities. Finally, in addition to the improvements in the conditions offered by the City Council, “our love for Calahorra, our affection” has weighed more heavily, said Cornago, who next year will offer “an improvement of the venue at all levels.”
The ‘blind passes’ for the next edition will go on sale this month. Although the date has not been specified, Cornago has announced that it will be before the patron saint festivities.
Burcor moves its headquarters to Calahorra.
As proof, on the other hand, of Burcor’s commitment to the city is the transfer of the company’s headquarters from Navarra to Calahorra. In this way, Cornago has explained that the firm has established itself in the General Community of Irrigation warehouse that it rented this year for the festival and in the old facilities of Conservas el Pilar.