The Carrozas de Dénia: date, time, chairs, order, route and history

The parade of floats and comparsas is one of the main acts of the program of the major festivals in honor of the Santísima Sangre de Dénia. They are popularly called Cars (in Valencian). The eleven fallas commissions of the city are in charge of making their own floats, which take to the streets on the last Saturday of the week of festivities to fill the center with colour.

The charges of each falla parade at the top of the float, while the rest of the commission accompanies them showing the costumes and animation they have worked on for months.

Below you have an index with all the points that we are going to deal with in this article.

Date and Time

The celebration of the float parade in Dénia does not have an exact date, but it is always the second Saturday of parties in the afternoon. The patron saint festivities usually start on the first Saturday in July, and last 9 days, until the Sunday of the following week.

En 2023, the Dénia Floats will be held on Saturday, July 15 from 19:00 p.m.

Participants and order

• Children's guests float: with the federation of clubs of San Isidro de Yecla, federation of Clubs and Harvest Festivals of Jumilla, managing federation of popular festivities of Elx, Local Fallera Board of Sueca, Fallera Board of Sagunt, Fallera Local Board of Xàtiva, Fallera Local Board de Torrent and the Bellesa of the children's foc of les Fogueres d'Alacant, Inés Llavador, and the bridesmaids.
• Guest float: with the federation of clubs of San Isidro de Yecla, federation of Clubs and Harvest Festivals of Jumilla, managing federation of popular festivities of Elx, Local Fallera Board of Sueca, Fallera Board of Sagunt, Fallera Local Board of Xàtiva, Fallera Local Board de Torrent and the federation of Peñas Huertanas.
• Major Fallas Floats of Dénia and Courts of Honour.
• Musical artistic group.
• Center Failure Chariot: the fonds marí
• Falla Nou Camp Roig float: Nights for convenience
• Saladar Falla Carriage: Huitantera
• Les Roques Falla float: Gondola Venice
• Falla Darrere del Castell float: The death festival.
• Falla Paris Pedrera float: flower tai festival
• Fail Port Rotes Carriage: Burning Port Rotes
• Falla Baix la Mar float: through l'espill
• West Rift Chariot: mon elfic
• Falla Campaments float: The Flying Dutchman
• Falla Diana float: Gods of Egypt: The Scorpion King
• Quintos

Suspension due to the pandemic

During 2020 and 2021 this parade was canceled, like most traditional events of the Santíssima Sang Festival, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Parade and competition

The competition is also present in the Dénia float parade. The Fallas commissions fight to reach the first float prize and the first comparsa prize that is awarded each year. Unlike the fallas prizes, there are no sections in floats and they all compete equally.

Jury

A jury evaluates various aspects of each float such as the design, finish, colors and technique used, while another jury is in charge of evaluating the troupes that each falla has prepared to accompany the float. In this case, the costumes, the theme and the dance are taken into account.

Categories

Although prizes are established for large and children's floats, the high cost that the production of two floats entails for each fallera commission has meant that in recent years few commissions have chosen to create two floats. So they take out a single design on the street in which their adult and child positions are grouped.

Location and route

The parade itinerary is:

• Marqués de Campo
• Diana
• Patricio ferrándiz
• Marqués de Campo

Every year the floats go around this route twice, the first to show off before the jury and the second to collect and celebrate their prize.

Sale of chairs

To be able to witness the parade of floats, the street has chairs that can be occupied at a reduced price. Normally, a booth is placed in Marqués de Campo, near where the grandstand will go during the parade, to acquire the front row seats. The second row are occupied at the time of the act and a worker passes by to collect. The price of tickets is 5 euros.

History

The history of the parade floats in Dénia dates back to the early twentieth century, but was then called Battle of Flowers. The success of this celebration at the July fair in València led several towns to adapt the festive initiative, which allowed them to show their neighbors the originality and good atmosphere in the parade, in which confetti and streamers were not lacking.

The Battle of Flores

Dénia, Batalla de las Flores joined the celebrations of the Holy Blood, parties that during the Republic became known as Summer Festival. After the Civil War, with very flagging spirits, also he declined the celebration of the Battle of Flowers.

The Fallas take the baton

It was with the birth of the first Fallas commissions in the city, in the 1947-1948 financial year, when the City Council considered commissioning the Fallas to make floats for the major festivals. A year later, on July 18, 1949, the four existing faults (Centro, Baix la Mar, Les Roques and Oeste) crossed the streets of Marqués de Campo, Diana, Magallanes and Carlos Sentí, returning to Marqués de Campo for a second round. In addition to the fallas floats, the City Council invited several young people from the municipality to participate in the municipal float. The queen of the festivities that year was Vicenta Bertomeu.

The early years of the Battle of Flowers were a success in Denia, with a population that willingly accepted this new festive event and encouraged the fallas to create elaborate designs for their floats.

Years without floats

In 1951, and due to the deficit suffered by the municipal coffers, the City Council was forced to reduce the festivities to a mass, processions and music on the day of the patronal feast. In 1953 the floats returned to the streets, but this time only the Fallas Centro, Baix la Mar and Les Roques paraded.

Mia Farrow's floats

The year 1958 went down in the history of Dénia as the year of the recording of the American blockbuster Captain Jones, which brought to the city great income and the visit of the director, John Farrow and his wife, actress Maureen O'Sullivan, who were accompanied by their daughter, Mia Farrow. The young woman was proclaimed by the City Council as Queen of the Festivities of that year and participated in all the programming, including the parade of floats through the center of the city.

From the anger of the Fallas to the declaration of a Festival of Provincial Tourist Interest

For a few years, the fallas were separated from the float parade due to the City Council's insistence on changing the date of the fallas celebration, moving it from March to summer. The goal was to turn them into Fogueres (bonfires) as in Alicante.

With the second stage of the Fallas, starting in 1968, normality was resumed in the parade of floats, which grew every year in parallel with the growth of the city's Fallas commissions. Currently the Parade of Floats and Comparsas of the Santísima Sangre festivities are a festival declared of Provincial Tourist Interest and they bring together thousands of people every year along the route.

ADIEX

Photos