The retrospective of the year which has just ended is naturally marked by the pandemic it brought to us. A virus that has greatly changed the life of the city, bringing new constraints and erasing from the calendar a number of meetings, including the most emblematic, the bandas festival.
Yet everything had started well. As expected Gérard Dubrac presented his last wishes as mayor and the campaign for municipal elections promised to be loved. The mobilization of the whole of Ténarèze to maintain Samu in the hospital was to bear fruit. The work of the walks continued smoothly and the Halle de la Bouquerie was reborn, stripped of its iron and concrete shackles. The associations held their general assemblies and presented their program for the year. At the end of February, the Antique Fair and the nursery market opened the ball rolling in the city.
While the three municipal candidates unfolded their program at the option of public meetings, already, in mid-March, the first ballot was announced in a very secure mode. At the end of it, despite a number of invalidated ballots, Cécile Laurent remained in the race like her two opponents, Gisèle Biémouret and Jean-François Rousse, who nevertheless stood out. The confinement decreed, the suspense of the second round would drag on until June. In the meantime, Gérard Dubrac saw his mandate at the town hall extended, just like that of president of the community of communes. While the health and emergency services remained on deck, the humanitarian structures organized themselves to continue to provide assistance to the most destitute while preserving their volunteers as much as possible. For other associations, especially sports, this spring sounded a halt.
Musicians silenced
The most resounding was that of the Bandas Festival. Until then presented every second weekend of May for 48 years, the great music festival has experienced an unprecedented cancellation. A symbol and a foretaste of the hard blow that 2020 will have been for culture in general. Because if economic activity has gradually resumed, especially around farmers’ markets from the end of March, the lack of masks and the threat posed by the virus, in particular for the elderly, have led to the cancellation of most of the demonstrations. and planned shows. If in June schools reopen their doors, caution remains in order. It is still in a climate of concern that the second round of municipal elections is being held. The latter delivers his verdict and makes Jean-François Rousse the new mayor of the city.
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