It was an enormous challenge. Three non-party editions of La Pampilla raised expectations among the residents of Coquimbo, who see this festival as a seal of identity for the city and who have been longing for a major return of this traditional party for several months. That is why we have been working for several months to organize the country’s most important national holiday event, and today, after five days, the outcome is positive.
This was stated by Mayor Ali Manouchehri, who was present and presided over every detail of the celebration. He visited every corner and stood to congratulate the vast majority of artists who took the monumental stage. Every day surpassed the other. While the urban singer Pailita reached a full house of more than 100,000 people during the day, the next day there were more than 200,000 who came to enjoy the cumbia of the Argentine Ke Personajes. Positive numbers that make the mayor of Coquimba happy and prove the success of the Pampillero event in the 2023 version.
“It was an incredible few days, people enjoyed this Pampilla and that was reflected in the large number of people who came and enjoyed the line-up of incredible artists.” From day one, from our opening to the days that followed, showed that people missed La Pampilla and that they enjoyed it very much,” adds Manouchehri in a voice exhausted by the long days of work since Friday September 15.
The mayor added that they worked diligently to make this a “clean, safe, family-friendly and organized Pampilla” party. For example, changing the schedule to have the main shows take place in daylight “allowed older adults, boys and girls the opportunity to come and enjoy a quality show,” the community leader adds.
Another action highlighted by Manouchehri is the work of city officials who worked long days to carry out the event, which was not without problems. For example, hundreds of tonnes of rubbish were removed daily by the cleaning and decoration teams to keep the premises clean early in the day.
“The truth is that I am very proud of those responsible because, with commitment, love and affection, they have fulfilled 100% what it means to plan and develop La Pampilla.”
Manouchehri remembers that in his youth, as a professional footballer, he would travel to the city or country where he played to celebrate this famous festival. Today, however, he feels that he has mastered the challenge with the support of the community team. “The truth is that this is the first opportunity for me as mayor to help organize an event of this magnitude and of course we had a very heavy backpack with the intention of making this the best possible.” Without municipal officials it is impossible to develop it in this way.”
TO LEARN FROM MISTAKES
Although the La Pampilla festival has a generally positive record, the mayor acknowledges some problems due to the high influx of visitors per day – more than 600,000 people in the first four days – which has led to complaints about the slowness of the payment system the entrances, demand for public toilets and some events that breached security but were quickly brought under control. Issues that, according to Mayor Manouchehri, need to be reviewed now to be addressed in the 2024 edition.
“It was a clean, safe, planned and organized affair. It is difficult to understand that there are things that exceed us and more than 200,000 people in the area of control, and that there are things that escape planning and organization.” “Everyone wants to come by vehicle, we don’t have the necessary ones Parking spaces, the vehicle fleet has skyrocketed and of course these are things that we have to analyze for the 2024 version, which we will start working on immediately and leave this as is,” he adds.
The success of La Pampilla for Manouchehri is based on the work and organization of the event. Although there were some conflicts, excessive alcohol consumption and other situations during the celebrations, there was a great effort from the various units, from the Ministry of Health to Public Security, who patrolled all areas of the venue. Support from Carabineros.
“There is a very positive analysis. We do not want to prejudge, but this is a Pampilla that will remain in the memory of many for the planning, organization, cleanliness and safety and that challenges us that La Pampilla 2024 must be achieved and exceeded,” concludes the municipality boss.
