Feria XXXIV Barichara!

We've had a lot of days that start like this with low clouds,
and misty or rainy until almost mid-day. But this is the
beginning of the rainy season, so no surprise!

It's time for the fair/feria! It started officially Friday night with the presentation of the candidates for the position of Queen of Barichara, a decision that will be rendered after the parade today (Sunday). Each of the communities (vedettas) will have a representative - 13! - so there will be 13 floats to judge - a tough job for the Mayor's committee.

The band from Villanueva put on a terrific and well
coordinated drill//dance performance.

And also on Friday was the presentation of the bands competing for the top slot. My vote was for either Villaneuva or Socorro and the judges seemed to like Socorro's big brass sound and slightly more professional presenting. I have to admit their on-time, precision drill team show was exceptional!

Our choral three-song show went off without a hitch at the Opening Ceremonies Friday evening and we got a few big praises which was definitely an improvement over our last showing... progress. There will be a YouTube video to see one of these days, and I will give you the link when I get it.

Last year they had a very good Simon Bolivar float; but
one thing they should do earlier is close the streets to cars.

The weather has played its own role in the festivities as the tourism impact has been quite a bit smaller than last year with flooding and mudslides and other rain effects - especially between here and Bucaramanga - causing people to make other choices. Also there is a feria in San Gil and in Pinchote this weekend, so that is causing a reduction, too.

The cathedral float is usually near the end of the parade.

But we look forward to the parade of the communities and pray for sunshine later on as it has been drizzly, misty and damp so far today!

UPDATE: We had a break in the clouds and while it was about the same as last year, at least it did not rain heavily during the afternoon at all. There were, according to several reports, over 35 floats and this year the neighboring city of Villanueva joined in along with the other one, Guane. This made for a lively afternoon with lots of people cheering for their friends and family in and about their particular entry.

I love seeing the creativity offered up and
this float was called "Myths and Legends."

Aren't these little children precious in their costumes?

This truck was completely covered with
greenery so I couldn't get a good shot of
the vedetta candidate.

This vedatta grows a lot of corn and had the winner for the
'Queen of Barichara' last year, I think.

The children on the 'kid floats' were so cute in their birds and bees and flower costumes, and so many of the floats were incredibly creative and colorful; it would have been hard for me to choose the best one. Aside from the 13 candidate floats, there were others from local businesses, community services, the Colombian equivalent of 4-H and the church. I have to say that overall I think the effort was much better than last year's and it definitely was bigger!