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 Travel & Outdoors | May 2005 
World-Class Fair Hosts Bullfights
 Paul Welsh - The Herald Mexico
| | The three-week fair is underway and includes music, theater, children's performances and bullfighting. The fair ends on May 10. |
Organizers of the annual Feria San Marco claim the event is the nation's biggest and best fair. This year, they expect it will draw close to five million visitors to Aguascalientes.
While billed as a family event with entertainment for all ages and major music acts, the Feria San Marcos' key attraction is world-class bullfighting. All 11 corridas (an afternoon with six bulls and two or three matadors) take place in the Plaza de Toros Monumental. With a capacity of 14,691, the plaza is not the largest in Mexico. But since its inauguration in 1974, the country's finest matadors have all fought here, many during this fair.
The 8th Corrida on Sunday, May 1, was the show stopper. World-renowned Enrique Ponce of Valencia, Spain, crossed the Atlantic to appear mano a mano with retiring Mexican great Miguel "Armillita" Espinoza in his final fight. While Ponce was at the top of his game, his performance could not overshadow the retirement of one of Aguascalientes' favorite sons.
Espinoza's final toro , Muletero de Oro, fought gallantly, but like most bulls who enter this plaza, he stood little chance of survival. The judges awarded Espinoza two of the bulls ears, a rare honor in bullfighting.
Tickets cost between 135 and 735 pesos for seats in the sombra or shade section.
If the violence and bloodshed of bullfights (or cockfights) does not appeal to you and your family, you can try one of the fair's many other cultural and family events.
Every night of the fair the Palenque de la Feria is transformed into a concert arena. Vicente Fernández played two soldout shows the weekend of April 22 and 23. His son Alejandro headlined two sold-out shows of his own this past weekend.
This Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the Palenque bill calls for Marco Antonio Solís, Ana Gabriel and Juan Gabriel (sold out), respectively. Tickets range from 100-500 pesos.
Aside from the often sold-out main acts, organizers and locals try to steer visitors to many smaller, less expensive shows scattered throughout the city. While one crowd emptied the Plaza Monumental and another filled the Palenque for Alejandro Fernández last weekend, the Casa de la Cultura hosted live electronic music for free, followed by two plays.
Cast members of "La Boda de la Mujer Maravilla" (nightly at 8 p.m. through Saturday) greeted the audience at the door and continued to involve them throughout the show. At one point, a cell phone rang in the crowd.
"Answer your phone!" one cast member called to another, never missing a line and drawing cheers from the annoyed crowd.
This humorous show features actors in drag portraying an old maid's last desperate chance at marriage.
"¡Peligro! !Servienta!" runs nightly following "La Boda" in the adjacent open-air Segundo Patio of the Casa de la Cultura.
The cultural events during the fair are presented by the Festival International de la Cultura Aguascalientes (FICA) and run concurrently with the other activities. Specifically for children, FICA hosted everything from a free puppet show portrayal of Don Quijote de la Mancha to the Argentine children's artist and performer Luis María Pescetti.
Many children's carnival-style rides and other games can be found near the Plaza de Toros.
In addition to the three stages at the Casa de la Cultura, the fair boasts a half-dozen other stages around the city.
The Teatro del Pueblo features live music nightly in front of the fair's namesake Templo de San Marcos. The adjoining Jardin de San Marcos is a shady park where tired parents relax on iron benches while singers, clowns and magic acts entertain children from a central kiosk.
From the Jardin and Templo area, fair-goers follow the wide and well-maintained pedestrian mall through the Expo Plaza. From here, you can enter the Casino (children and cameras prohibited) and gamble on various table games.
Inside the Expo Plaza you pass a demonstration of Nissan assembly-line robots installing the doors and windows on a new car. Nissan has a large plant just south of town on the road to Leon.
Alejandra Valles, a 19-year-old law student selling belts inside the Expo Plaza admitted it was not the biggest event of the Feria.
"Most people come for the party," she said, motioning in the direction of the crowd beginning to assemble outside.
All schools in the state are on vacation for the first two weeks of the fair, "so we can work and also enjoy the best fair in Mexico," she said.
If you go to Aguascalientes for the Feria San Marcos this weekend, expect large crowds. The fair runs through Tuesday, May 10, but organizers expect this long weekend's Cinco de Mayo puente to be the most heavily attended dates.
Check the fair's website for a complete schedule of events, including prices at: http://www.aguascalientes.gob.mx/feriadesanmarcos/ |
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