Vigo wanted to win the war

Cadiz spends more per capita on holiday lighting than Vigo.

Caballero brags about Vigo’s huge tree: “This year it will touch Mars, it will get there before Musk”

The idea that Christmas brings peace and love is gone. Local administrations and the increasingly competitive, disputed, and expensive (especially expensive) Christmas lighting world. Vigo and Madrid have long competed to decorate their streets best during the holidays or erect the largest LED tree in the country (if not Europe). A new contender has entered the “Christmas League”.

Cadiz City Council will spend 3.1 million euros (plus VAT) on two years of “extraordinary lighting“. The concept encompasses Christmas, Carnival and local festivities, demonstrating a commitment to street decoration in a 111,800-person municipality. It is already claimed that it spends the most per resident on Christmas lights, surpassing Vigo, among the major cities.

“What the city needs .” A year ago, Cadiz mayor Bruno Garcia (PP) promised festive lighting “in accordance with what the city needs.” “It is not only an aesthetic issue, but also one of employment, excitement, commercial movement and families in the streets,” he said. Over time, this commitment generated 3.81 million euros, including taxes. He rented, assembled, disassembled, and maintained the “extraordinary lighting.” for that amount.

The big winner. The two-year ‘extraordinary lighting’ contract includes Christmas, Epiphany, Carnival, All Saints’ Day and Our Lady of the Palm decorations. The Cordoba firm Iluminaciones Ximenez, a lighting enthusiast and industry veteran, won. The company has provided similar services in cities like Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga, and Vigo, where it has signed multi-year contracts worth millions of dollars with city councils focused on decoration.

The cost per resident? El País determined the cost of Christmas lights per Cádiz resident using a calculator. The contract includes decorating other holidays besides Christmas and Kings, making the operation difficult, but it serves as a clue. As an approximation, the calculation is: The Contracting Platform says the contract is 3,813,172 euros for two years, or 1.9 million euros per year. If divided by 111,811 registered residents, Cádiz residents pay 17 euros each.

Realistic or barbaric? “It is a barbarity, old and tacky,” David de la Cruz from Adelante Cádiz told El País. The previous lighting tender proposed a much lower investment of only four euros per resident. García’s local government claims that 17 euros per resident is “unrealistic” and limits the “strictly dedicated to Christmas” investment to 900,000 euros. It claims it will cost more this year because it had to make “an initial investment that in future tenders will not be necessary” to adapt.

On top of Christmas TOP. When those 17 euros per head are considered, Cádiz becomes one of Spain’s cities that spends the most on Christmas lighting. If investment per person and capitals and large cities are considered. According to El País, it would surpass Vigo as the top contender in the Christmas race. The Galician town signed a 9.4 million euro, tax-inclusive contract with Ximenez for 2023-2024 and 2026-2027 campaigns. It focusses on Christmas lights.

The annual cost is around 2.36 million euros if the award is divided between the four Christmases in the contract, though the distribution is slightly different. Although the average is higher than in Cádiz, the “bill” per head is around eight euros if divided by Vigo’s 293,652 INE registered residents. If the Vigo City Council’s census of over 300,000 is considered, the number is even lower. This is far from Cádiz’s 17 euros.

The Christmas War. Despite figures, Cadiz’s street decoration investment shows that Spanish cities’ “Christmas war” continues. Also disputed. The phenomenon has already started in cities like Cadiz and Vigo, where workers began work in July with temperatures above 30º. Other cities talk about Christmas before Hispanic Heritage or Halloween.

Seville and Malaga have announced new developments for this year, Barcelona has boasted of its programming, and Madrid recently approved a contract for the 2024-2025 festivities’ lighting. It costs 4.4 million euros. The deployment of nearly 12 million LED bulbs is another highlight.

Vigo wanted to win the war

Cadiz spends more per capita on holiday lighting than Vigo.

By nr39r

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