Calpe (10-10-2025). Last evening, Calpe celebrated 9th October, Valencian Community Day, with the presentation of the 31st Jaume Pastor i Fluixà Award and Medals of the Town.
The children's activities and musical performances planned for yesterday had to be cancelled due to the rain, and the awards ceremony, which was to be held in the Plaza Mayor, was moved to the Casa de Cultura Auditorium.
However, the rain could not dampen an event full of emotion that serves to recognise and thank those individuals, groups and institutions from a wide range of fields who have contributed to improving the society in which we live.
In this edition, coinciding with its 30th anniversary, the ‘Jaume Pastor i Fluixà-9 d'octubre’ award was given to CREAMA (Consortium for the Economic Recovery and Activity of the Marina Alta) in recognition of its three decades of work as a driving force behind the regional economy and its role as the backbone of the Marina Alta. The manager of the Consortium, Rosario Donderis, was responsible for collecting the award and pointed out that ‘through joint work, public service, economic revitalisation and proximity, CREAMA has been able to stand by the people and act as a backbone for the region by promoting plurality’.
The Citizen Merit Award was also presented to Remedios Tomás Soler, a recently retired municipal official attached to the Protocol Department who has been involved for years in organising the Jaume Pastor i Fluixà-9 d'Octubre awards.
The Sports Merit Award went to Calpe swimmers Miguel Ferrer Roselló and Manuel Farrona Clavero for their sporting careers as open water swimmers and their promotion of this sport in the municipality. The Tourism Merit Award was also presented to Plus Holidays, a company founded in the 1970s as a construction and property management company that has become a leading holiday rental agency in Spain in recent years.
The Medal for Cultural Merit was awarded to Pere Tur i Sala, an environmental activist, columnist, writer and cultural promoter, and member of the Institute of Calpe Studies (IEC). The Medal for Business Merit was awarded to the Tango-La Sentadilla group, a company dedicated to the operation of restaurants, bars and cafés, which originated in Calpe and has promoted the local hospitality industry in recent years.
This year's Youth Award goes to Marco Carrión from Calpee, a professional Spanish and flamenco dancer who is currently performing in the best dance productions in the country. This year's Corbata de la Villa award went to the Calpe Fibromyalgia Association for raising awareness of this disease and breaking the silence and barriers that still exist around it.
The ceremony began with the entire government team on stage and the institutional manifesto written for Valencian Community Day. This year, Councillor Juan Manuel del Pino read the text. The ceremony closed with a performance of the Valencian anthem by tenor José Luis Luri.
INSTITUTIONAL MANIFESTO 9 OCTOBER 2025
Today, 9 October, we commemorate the creation of the Kingdom of Valencia by King Jaume I. A date that symbolises the birth of a collective identity, that of a people who, from their origins, knew how to find their greatest strength in diversity.
Today we celebrate not only a historical event, but everything it represents: a commitment to our roots, respect for our language and culture, and a shared desire to build a better society for all.
Every 9th of October offers us the opportunity to look back with gratitude, but also to look to the future with responsibility. Because being Valencian is not just a legacy, it is also a daily choice: to work together, defend our values, care for our territory and continue to move forward with a steady pace and a broad vision.
The Valencian Community has demonstrated, time and time again, its ability to overcome difficulties. The storm that hit our community last October exemplifies the values of solidarity, empathy and resilience that define us. We are a land that has moved forward with effort, with the strength of its citizens, with its entrepreneurial initiative, its cultural talent, its agricultural wealth, and with a vocation for tourism that has opened our doors to the world.
Nevertheless, we continue to face significant challenges. Challenges such as improving the regional financing system to ensure equity between territories and strengthen public services. Or the need to provide municipalities with greater resources and powers so that we can respond more efficiently to the demands of our residents.
Local administrations, such as town councils, have proven to be an essential pillar of social cohesion, especially in times of crisis. It is essential that their voice is heard and that their role is recognised with greater autonomy and better funding.
Other urgent challenges include environmental protection, decent access to housing, digital transformation, the fight against job insecurity and real equality between women and men. Immigration and the protection of our identity are further challenges that we must address. And we must face all these challenges through dialogue, common sense and a willingness to reach consensus.
From Calpe, we want to express our commitment to this shared future. We are a plural, inclusive and dynamic municipality. A place where people of more than a hundred nationalities live together, where each culture contributes and each resident finds a home. And it is precisely this human wealth that makes Calpe a reflection of the best of the Valencian spirit: welcoming, enterprising and supportive.
That is why, on this special day, we renew our commitment to the values of justice, coexistence and progress. We call for a Valencian Community that leaves no one behind, that is committed to inclusion, that looks to the future with hope and that continues to grow without losing its essence.
Today, Calpe joins the Valencian people to celebrate our history, to honour our identity and to reaffirm our desire to continue building a free, equal and cohesive society.
Happy 9th of October to everyone. Thank you.