Haro Wine Festival Spain - Term Paper Example

Haro Wine Festival Spain Haro Wine Festival Spain Introduction Haro wine festival is one of the outstanding festivals in Spain and the rest of the world today. It is celebrated in Haro which is a town in the northwestern part of La Rioja province, Spain. The festival is held every year on June 29th. The main activities of this festival include a mass, wine drinking contests and competitions and a ‘Battle of Wine’ (Batalla de Vino), eating and bullfights (Zapaday, 2013) The history of this competition is dated back to the year 1710. It began when worshipers started celebrating after a mass by throwing and pouring wine at each other. Although this is the time when the competition was born, it did not gain much popularity until the 1945-1955 decade. This is the period when the festival gained much popularity and got the name ‘war of wine’ although this name was to change to ‘battle of the wine’ later in the year 1965 (Crazy Spain Festivals 2009). During the festival day, the procession starts in town as early as 7 am headed by the Rrgidot Sindico (mayor) on a horse. The procession goes though the streets of Haro town then out towards Bilibio. All the people normally of all ages but mostly the young dressed on white with red scarfs head to the mountain (Bilibio cliffs) close to the church where the mass is held. After the mass celebration, everyone sprinkles wine on each other randomly (Wikipedia, 2013). Normally, there are two sides whereby they compete by one side pouring wine to the other until everyone is totally soaked with wine from head to toe. Traditionally, wine would be carried with bottles made of leather although nowadays jugs, bottles, and any other containers are used. After the battle of wine at the cliff, the people head back to the town where celebration continues with wine drinking competitions, eating contests and later bullfights. The bullfight is basically for the young people. Although it is called bullfight competition, heifers are used and not actually bulls. History of Haro Haro town came to be after a demarcation exercise which was ordered by King Ferdinand III of Castle. The exercise which was carried out by the Judge and the town officials was to end the dispute of land between Haro residents and their neighbors. Haro has been declared by the French government to be a national artistic tourist attraction place because of the hills. It is the capital of La Rioja province found in the northern western part of Spain. It has a population of approximately 12,000 in an area of 40.32 Km2 and 479 m above sea level. The climate of Haro is cold and cloudy during winter and warm in the summer (Wikipedia, 2013). Haro is also an administrative town; it is one of the 49 town councils in the region. The main economic activity of the town is wine production which is dated back to the 14th century. There has not been so much growth in the city though due to stagnation of the industry. Haro has a history of being the first town to have electric street lights in Spain (Web Municipal de Haro, 2003) Public/Private stakeholder involvement The development of Haro is largely connected to its history and the main economic activity. Therefore the main stakeholders in the development of this town are majorly in the tourism and industrialization through the wine processing. As reported from the Haro City Council website, the government led the ‘Tourism Product Dynamization Plan’ which was aimed at promoting tourism. This was to promote Haro and elevate it as a tourist center by improving the quality of resources in this destination through the partnership of the locals, the government and other private owned tourist agent bodies. The report further says that the plan was funded by three administrations: the Ministry of Industrialization, Tourism and Trade, La Rioja’s Department of Tourism, Environmental and Territorial policy and the City Council of Haro (Haro City Council website, 2010). This move ensured that the public institutions collaborate with the society around in building the town. The plan was basically to transform Haro by broadening the economic activity of the area through job creation and development, and also by encouraging the local population on the same, through their participation in the building of their town. The main tourist attraction of Haro is ‘Wine Tourism and Haros Heritage’ which involves its traditions, arts, culture and nature of this place. The participation of the locals and the government through public institutions in advertising and communication campaigns, publications, planning of events for the tourists, training of personnel in the tourism sector and many other ways that would make the town more attractive to tourists (Haro City Council website, 2010). Marketing and the target market The Haro City Council website, points out some important aspects that need to be considered in order to transform Haro and make it better in terms of tourist and economic development as a whole. The government through the line ministries and departments involved the local population in promoting the culture and heritage of the town both locally and internationally. By making the event (Wine Festival) more and more attractive, the number of visitors to the town would always increase (Haro City Council website, 2010). This is evident from the Crazy Spain Festivals website where participants of are quoted saying good things about the event. One participant (tourist) is quoted even saying that such events should be in her country (United Kingdom) (Crazy Spain Festivals, 2009). Establishment and the development of Haro First, the reason that led to the development of Haro as the festival centre is from the history of this festival itself as stated by 2013 don Quijote Salamanca, 2013. The festival began and developed from the 12th century. During this time, there was a land dispute between the inhabitants of Haro and their neighbors from the next village (Miranda del Ebro). The dispute was later resolved by the king who wrote a letter to the judge to establish a legal boundary between the two communities. The judge then ordered the residents of Haro to mark their property with purple banners annually. This was to be done on Saint Peter’s day and the first Sunday of September each year. The law was that if Haro residents failed to do this, then the land would belong to their neighbors. The celebration continued and would proceed to the Bilibio cliffs which the date was set to be the 29th June of every year. Haro being the main place where the celebration and the land dispute originated, is the main cause of the development of this town (Haro Traveler Article, 2013) Secondly, the town came to be the destination of the ‘Haro Wine Festival’ due to the fact that since the 14th century, this region had been producing wine. The celebration began as a day of attending mass and marking of the boundaries between the two neighboring communities, it then developed to the festival of wines since this was an available commodity to the locals. The main economic activity of this region which is majorly wine production must have been the main cause of the establishment of this town since wine was readily available so many years ago. Critical success factors Like any other industry, the success of Haro and the wine festival as an economic, social and tourist attraction activity has been attributed to the proper planning by the leadership of the town (Web Municipal de Haro, 2003). This is due to the fact that they have been able to develop the town to make sure that it becomes more attractive to tourists from other countries and even to the local tourists. Another important aspect that boosted the development of Haro Wine festival is its uniqueness. Although there are other such events in the world, Haro Wine Festival is so unique in its own way from the history of how it came to be, the activities that take place here, the scenery and the joy that comes with it at the end of the day is just amazing that it makes it unique. Vino (2012) in giving an overview of what to plan while attending the festival says that; one should prepare for great enjoyment and wear proper attire so that they do not get messed up as they enjoy themselves (Vino, 2012). Another participant quoted from Crazy Spain Festivals website who originally comes from England calls France ‘home’ due to the fact that it’s cities are awesome and he specifically points out Haro as one of his favorite destination because of the wine festival (Crazy Spain Festivals, 2009). This shows that as much as other tourist attraction sites in the world may also be attractive, the strategic position of Haro with its Wine Festival gives it an edge over other places. This is due to the fact that geographically and historically it is better placed and also its social activity in the wine festival even makes it more attractive (Haro Traveler Article, 2013). Community impact The community surrounding this area holds a very important position in the town and to what goes on here. First, they are the inhabitants of the place and the history of all that goes on around the town comes back to them and to generations that came before them. Such an association makes it very essential for them to be able to maintain the history and even make it better. The government through the line ministries and departments involved the local population in promoting the culture and heritage of the town. That is through the ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade, La Rioja’s department of tourism, environmental and territorial policy and the City Council of Haro (Haro City Council website, 2010). This led to the community around the town getting involved in the activities of developing their town. The other main impact of the event to the community is through the tourists that are visiting the place each year because of this event. The community celebrates the festival as it is their culture to do so. Extending the celebration to other communities and even other people from outside countries makes it even better for them since they will be able to enjoy and interact with others through this event (Haro City Council website, 2010). The communities around were also able to benefit from the development of infrastructure due to the establishment of wine production industries. These industries necessitated that the finished products be transported to other countries, and especially France. Therefore, infrastructure had to be developed so as to ease the transpiration, hence the local population benefited form that also. Use of special events Haro Wine Festival is a special event in the calendar of Haro town, Spain and even other countries. Its specialty comes with the nature of the event. There has been tremendous attendance to this event each year and the preparation is amazing. Many people always long for the day to come so that they may enjoy (Vino, 2012). The festival began long time ago due to the special event that took place in this town. The day was so special to the residents since it marked a celebration of the demarcation of their territory from that of their neighbors. They then went further to have a mass in celebration of the same in an annual date that was set. The mass celebration is another important event that came about which further developed to other activities such as feasting, bullfights, wine drinking competitions and majorly the Wine Festival which has now become the significant event. From the history of wine festival development from its inception from the 12th century, it is evident that one special event led to another until the current festival which is largely known worldwide (Stoketravel, 2013). The availability of a tourist’s center in Haro also has made the festival more attractive. Most of the people who visit this place come at a timely date which is normally in summer since they would be able to enjoy the warm weather as well as the wine festival event. The visitors also get to visit the tourist sites within the town; therefore they would be satisfied since they had enough fun while visiting the place due to the presence of several special events in the town at this time of the year (Festivity of National Tourist Interest, 2013). Another important aspect about Haro is that it is an important town in the history of Spain. This is the town where the first electric street lights were installed. This made Haro a special town in Spain and that remained up to date and that is one of the reasons why the town is a historic and tourist site in Spain (2013 don Quijote Salamanca, 2013). Elements of sustainability It is evident that since inception of this festival, it has been able to continue growing and increasing its value as years go by. The festival began as an event for just the locals of the town; it went further to attract the attention of other areas, the entire country and even other countries. All this is attributed to the specialty and attractiveness of the event, everyone who had a chance to attend the event would never miss it again (Vino, 2012). This has helped a lot in the sustainability and growth of the event with time since its inception (Jasper, 2013). As the number of participants increased due to the spread out network of infrastructure and marketing that was done though the festival and other means, it called for the government to ensure that there is enough resources and sustainability to handle the same. This then has enable Haro to be sustainable by all means (Tripadvisor, 2013). The availability and development of wine production industries in Haro has become another important aspect in its sustainability. The history of Haro and early development in production of wine has made it develop economically which enables it sustain itself currently and also in the future. The Haro City Council website gives some aspects that enable Haro be a leader in wine production in the region. It actually calls the town ‘Rioja Wine Capital’ to mean that it leads in wine production in the whole region. The area has clay soils which is suitable for cultivation of galleries and construction of cellar used in preservation of wine. The Mediterranean climate of this region is also favorable for the production of high quality wines (Haro City Council website, 2010). Challenges and opportunities As much as there are always many challenges in development and sustainability of an event such as the Haro Wine Festival and the development of Haro as a town, there have also been more advantages to its growth. That is the reason why Haro is currently leading administratively in La Rioja and also in wine production in this region (Web Municipal de Haro, 2003). Future directions of the destination From the past and current condition of the development of Haro as the festival destination, it is evident that there has been a tremendous growth and development. This is due to the fact that the government recognized Haro to be an important town for its development. Haro has also had a geographical advantage in that it is situated in a very conducive environment that enables it to develop easily (Jasper, 2013). Therefore, for future development of Haro, the basis is build on the previous history and from that it is evident that there is still much more room for development. The aim of any government is to increase its industries and the wine production industries in Haro is one of the targets by the government. Also, as the festival gets more and more attraction, more people would want to visit this place and therefore this is one of the future projections of this town. The development of the tourist sites also will be able to boost Haro to a greater height currently and in the future (Haro City Council website, 2010). References 2013 don Quijote Salamanca, Haro Wine Festival, Accessed 2nd April, 2013 from http://www.donquijote.org/culture/spain/society/holidays/haro-wine-festival.asp Crazy Spain Festivals 2009, The Wine Battle of Haro. Accessed 2nd April, 2013 from http://crazyspainfestivals.blogspot.com/2010/11/wine-battle-of-haroharo.html Festivity of National Tourist Interest, 2013. Haro: The Battle of Wine. Accessed 2nd April, 2013 from http://www.spainisculture.com/en/destinos/haro.html Haro City Council 2010, Haro, Rioja Wine Capital: Discover Haro. Accessed 2nd April, 2013 from http://www.haroturismo.org/en/enoturismo Haro City Council 2010. Museums: Art and cultural heritage. Accessed 2nd April, 2013 from http://www.haroturismo.org/en/museos/index Haro Traveler Article, 2013. Tripadvisor. Haro: History of Haro. Accessed 2nd April, 2013 from http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g187512-c146059/Haro:Spain:History.Of.Haro.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Geography_of_La_Rioja_%28Spain%29 Jasper, B, 2013, Sapaday future news and events, Haro Wine Festival 2013, http://www.zapaday.com/event/273293/2/Haro+Wine+Festival.html Stoketravel, 2013. The Wine Fight. Accessed 3rd April, 2013 from http://stoketravel.com/san-vino/ Tripadvisor, 2013. 2012 Haro Wine Festival, Accessed 3rd April, 2013 from http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187512-i5872-k5468433-2012_Haro_Wine_Festival-Haro_La_Rioja.html Vino, B, 2012, The Spain scoop, Wild wine festival plus 3 tips to save your sanity. Accessed 2nd April, 2013 from http://www.thespainscoop.com/wine-festival-haro-spain/ Web Municipal de Haro, 2003, City Council, Accessed 2nd April, 2013 from www.haro.org Wikipedia, 2013, Category: Geography of La Rioja (Spain). Accessed 3rd April, 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haro_Wine_Festival Wikipedia, 2013. Haro, La Rioja. Accessed 3rd April, 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haro,_La_Rioja Zapaday, 2013, Haro Wine Festival, 2013. Accessed 3rd April, 2013 from http://www.zapaday.com/event/273293/2/Haro+Wine+Festival.html Read More