Also participating in the presentation were the president of the Provincial Council; the director of the Galician Tourism Agency; the provincial deputy of Tourism and mayors and municipal representatives of the geodestination Deza-Tabeirós.
He announced as the first Commanders of the next edition of the Fair the president of the Diputación de Pontevedra, Luis López, and the Olympic athlete, Teresa Portela.
The mayor of Lalín, José Crespo, promoted and publicised the 57th Cocido Fair at Fitur in the framework of the presentation ‘Deza-Tabeirós, tradition and gastronomy’ in an event that, with a packed auditorium, was attended by the town crier, the plenipotentiary and extraordinary ambassador of Japan in Spain, Takahiro Nakamae, whom the councillor thanked for his presence (‘it is a great detail that the ambassador accompanies us’); the president of the Provincial Council of Pontevedra, Luis López; the director of the Galician Tourism Agency, Xosé Manuel Merelles; the provincial deputy for Tourism, Nava Castro, and the mayors and municipal representatives of the geodestination. Crespo began his speech by stressing that ‘presenting the Cocido Fair is, for a person from Lalín, almost like a symbol of identity, an emblem of inland Galicia’. ‘We have been doing it for 57 years now, and in this year's edition, where the town crier is international, we want to open a new phase of internationalisation and with it the opening of new frontiers’, he emphasised. In this sense, he indicated that ‘the Cocido Fair has already completed several crucial stages in its growth: national and international dissemination; deseasonalisation and now opening up internationalisation as the Fair itself’. Thus, he said, ‘we want the Fair to take on a new dimension, opening up new ways of promotion and dissemination’. In this edition,’ he remarked, “the town crier will be for the first time a figure from outside Spain; an international figure such as the Japanese ambassador to Spain”. ‘Other foreign representatives will participate in the Fair, such as the mayor of Miami and commissioner of district 3 of this metropolitan area, Joe Carollo, and there will also be representatives of the company Huttopia’. ‘Projects such as those of Huttopia or the growth of pilgrims on the Via de la Plata and the Camino de Invierno will help to spread our attractions, especially tourism,’ he said. Lalín's president said that ‘I have fond memories of Fitur, in 2020, the Secretary of Tourism awarded us here the distinction of Fiesta of International Tourist Interest; that same year I contacted a French company, Huttopia, and now they are doing their project in Lalín, and on June 27 they will inaugurate a wooden cabins, an initiative that will make Lalín a reference point in the tourism of tranquility. ‘Enjoying peace and quiet tourism is a very important point that we are going to try to make profitable and give value to’, he stressed. Crespo invited everyone to participate in the 57th Cocido Fair, on 23 February, a ‘Cocido Fair in which we will also be paying tribute to Rosalía de Castro and Laxeiro’.
Comendadores
On the other hand, the Lalinense councillor announced today that the list of Comendadores who will promise their position in the defence of the Feria del Cocido on 23 February, coinciding with the celebration of the big day, opens with the president of the Diputación de Pontevedra, Luis López Diéguez, and with the Olympic canoeist, Teresa Portela. Crespo referred to Luis López as his political son. This man from Dezano, with a degree in Law from the USC, developed his work in private enterprise as an organisational technician and in various companies in the service sector and others. He was mayor of Rodeiro since 2011, a position he revalidated with absolute majorities in 2015 and 2019. Previously, between 2003 and 2007, he was councillor for Culture, Education and Sports. From 2019 until his appointment as territorial delegate of the Xunta de Galicia in Pontevedra, in 2021, he was also a provincial deputy in the Diputación de Pontevedra. Between 2011 and 2019 he chaired the Mancomunidad de Terras de Deza. Since 2023 he has been president of the Pontevedra Provincial Council. Teresa Portela, born in Cangas do Morrazo, Olympic runner-up at the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games. She participated in 7 Olympic Games uninterruptedly since the Sydney Games in 2000 until the last Olympic Games, held last August in Paris 2024. She became the Spanish woman with the most Olympic participations. Throughout her sporting career she achieved great sporting achievements, such as Olympic silver medals, 6 Olympic diplomas, and she was twice World Champion and 6 times European Champion, among others. She not only focused on her sporting career, but also on her academic training, obtaining a Degree in Physiotherapy and a Diploma in Teaching. On a personal level, she says that motherhood was her greatest medal. And work-life balance, her great daily challenge.
