JuanMa: ,If you've lived the Coso Blanco, you know we're talking about something very special,

Salou. Costa Dorada. The Winter Festival Salou days ago and started with a large number of acts, but for many people, the big occasion, as the Coso Blanco is expected that this year will be held this Saturday, February 5 at from half past six p.m. The White Coso Salou annually mobilizes thousands of people, more than 30,000 in the 2010 edition. But if a person knows, lives, suffers, prepared, excited, works and runs the White Coso Salou, this is Juan María Hidalgo, JuanMa for everyone. The speaker of the Coso Blanco festival opens with two sentences rituals that mark the beginning of the Big Bang: 'Power Machines' is the first sign, just minutes before the big bang. And soon after, the most anticipated, that everyone celebrates, the climax: 'Ladies and gentlemen, start the show. " The time has come. El Coso Blanco is here. JuanMa Hidalgo was born in Reus, but from small and live in Salou, he says, he feels 120% salouense. Which is a lot. "Salou is a town that I love, very much. It is my people," he said. And explains how it has always been linked with a number of initiatives and institutions Salou. Together with other young people, Juanma Hidalgo was one of the promoters, 31 years ago, the Festival Committee which established the Coso Blanco as a lively element of Salou, with the aim of recovering the winter holidays, which for years had been no longer held. At that time, Salou was still part of the term of Vila-seca. Now, this Saturday, February 5, 2011, Hidalgo JuanMa will grab the mic and from its position in the control room of the Coso Blanco, will pronounce the slogans that everyone expects. The most acclaimed, the big bang will occur when this again: "Ladies and gentlemen, start the show." The speaker of the Coso White Salou presented and commented on the Coso Blanco 28 times out of 30 held so far. This year will add its 29th participation in the great winter holiday in Salou, the Coso Blanco. Mr. Hidalgo, JuanMa, what is the White Coso Salou? How shall I explain it ... Coso Blanco is a party indeed, a party with light, sound, floats, confetti ... is all that, yes, but I would not dare to define it. If you have lived the White Coso Salou on occasion you know it's something very special, something that only remembering the name of the party takes you to remember everything that occurs on the street for several hours. That is the Coso Blanco. This way everyone has to experience this event and at the same time, the sum of all this great explosion of desire to have fun. That is the Coso Blanco. How did this party? The beginnings of Coso Blanco were really very modest. The first year was only dancing. I remember on the first parade of the Coso Blanco took only three carriages. There was no light, no music, no paper ... nothing. Then we started to do cucañas for children, we incorporated elements of the party. To finance the organizers were leaving an envelope in the shops and businesses in Salou and days later we collected the money that allowed us to organize the Coso Blanco, who at that time did not have any subsidies or any official support. And now, why you chose the first Saturday in February? Do not take us long to decide the date of the Coso Blanco. Salou was clear that he lived and lives on tourism and therefore could not do in the summer. November was a month too close to the end of the tourist season, December is the Christmas holiday season and therefore a good option in winter, was the first weekend in February, differentiating, yes, Carnival . In 1989, Salou, after years of claim, is secreted from Vila-seca and constitutes an independent municipality. What role did the Coso Blanco as a unifying identity and aspirations of the segregation of Salou? It was not just the Coso Blanco, was the set of parties and celebrations that took place around this event. During the years he worked for the segregationist movement Segregation, the Winter Festival of Salou and the Coso Blanco collected much of the segregationist aspirations. No matter the political ideology, the football club or social status.   For many of us the goal was segregation, which finally arrived on 30 October 1989, and the parties and the Coso Blanco agglutinated and expressed much of this claim. In fact, Salou and the segregationist movement needed the party and the party needed this movement, because what is a party if not fully behind the people involved in your celebration? Salou was the people, and the Coso Blanco his party. Apart from this aspect of the Coso Blanco protest, what other memories will come to the memory of those early years? There are many things, many memories, many, many friends. The early years, when we introduce the paper, before using the confetti, we warned everyone to save newspapers, magazines and all the paper as possible throughout the year. Then they approached the White Coso dates we collected, we packed and we had to cut the paper to a printer that worked with us. To avoid that snag and stacked after cutting, stirring all the paper with pitchforks and, once aired, the embolsábamos and climbed to the roof of the Torre Vella, del Casal and other travel roofs to have it ready to step the floats and groups participating in the Coso Blanco. The first year we started with no sound, no light, until gradually incorporated, first, the presentation of floats, groups and heiresses to a bus and the host of the party, then the canned music, lighting the floats, paper, balloons, confetti ... in these 31 years, we achieved this year, things have changed a lot. El Coso Blanco has grown, has changed and has slowly been improving. Fortunately we have not had any accidents or any unfortunate, but every year the pressure increases as the Coso Blanco has grown in every way and this growth, which moves more than 25,000 people each year, it also means more pressure and greater responsibility for the entire organization. El Coso Blanco, has had to be suspended at any time? Also, this. El Coso Blanco is really a party with an angel. Until today, although it is a holiday celebrated in winter, had to be suspended only once by bad weather. It rained like never before. All was well soaked. But the next day, Sunday, prepare all the material, dry it with a hairdryer all the bulbs one by one, all I had managed to fix. We had a lot of work, but the next day, Sunday, we celebrate the Coso Blanco. And at what time the great leap occurs, leading to what is now the Coso Blanco? El Coso Blanco has been growing at a pace that it has Salou. After several years of segregation occurs when the municipality of Salou was established, the Party Commission until then looked after the organization transferred the feast to the city of Salou, which from that time took over fully. Over the years, the festival has become popular, has grown in every way and now attracts many people, both of Salou and from neighboring villages and other places far away geographically. Just remember that last year, when the Coso Blanco turned 30, surpassing the figure of 30,000 attendees. So there is still room to grow or come to the roof? In the current scenario, the street Ciutat de Reus, the Coso Blanco could grow even more. Currently, the Coso Blanco occupies only part of the street, but in this scenario there is room to grow. We have not peaked. In addition, the possibility has always planned to move the Coso Blanco Paseo Jaume I, where would a lot more people, but from my point of view, the Coso Blanco is well in place at present, for many reasons. Another thing would make a great summer party at Paseo Jaume I, but in any case would not be the Coso Blanco. It would be something else, but not the Coso Blanco. How many gangs involved in the Coso Blanco in this issue? Currently there are 24 groups participating in the Coso Blanco with its floats, which are due out this Saturday, February 5. And from a personal standpoint, what does it mean for you the Coso Blanco? El Coso Blanco is something very special to me. I, in fact, I'm just another member of the team working on the organization of the party, but I have made speaker of the Coso Blanco 28 times out of 30 who has held the party, and this year will be the 29 second occasion. When I'm nervous about the date, I have trouble sleeping, I feel restless. El Coso Blanco, for me, is really special and when the show starts, with that "Ladies and gentlemen ..." the moment is unique. All beats, the adrenaline goes up and everything explodes soon after. It is the big moment. Finally, this year for the first time, the Coso Blanco will have a children's version with the Coso Blanco Xic's. How does this initiative? Indeed, on Friday, August 4 in the tent of the parties, from five in the afternoon, Coso Blanco held the first child. Unlike the Coso Blanco, who is on the street, the White Coso Child will be held in an enclosure, but I think the initiative is clearly positive as it will allow better identification of the kids with our Winter Festival, and specifically, the Coso Blanco.  

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