Nofre Galmés: “For days now I’ve been making customers sing if they want to drink herbal tea.”

ManacorTo speak of El Porrón bar in Manacor (opened in 1960) is to speak of a true local institution. It was a pioneering café in the creation of the city's first bonfires, in the mid-60s, and with figures in 1968, with a clear Valencian influence imported during the early years of tourism. Although, to tell the whole truth, El Porrón was a parade bar, one of the first establishments outside the town center, near the private hospital that operated until the end of the 70s and is now a nursing home.

The organization of the bonfires was already the work of the godparents. "The neighborhoods here started it with godfather Ramón and godmother Margalida," says Nofre Galmés, the proud family owner of El Porrón since he took over the café at the turn of the century, in 2001. "The first ones were all made of wood, made for toasting, bringing the neighbors together, and having a party," he adds, recalling how his godfather had the idea of placing a straw-stuffed figure in a tracksuit and wearing a devil mask, imitating the Levantine tradition.

The bonfires of Manacor, complete with their accompanying verses, always have a character that highlights the magnificence of the figures and the voluntary craftsmanship of their amateur and very manual creation, with themes that are always ironic. "This year, although we can't say what we'll put on top until the very end, the bonfire will be a critique of what we think is wrong and doesn't work in Mallorca," in a clear reference to the overcrowding of recent years.

Nofre does it with friends, a group of about fifty people who get to work on Thursday afternoon: "adding wood all night and just messing around a bit," he smiles. "The lucky thing is that right next door we have a pizza maker friend who, when he sees us tired and sweating, takes pizzas from us so we can all have a little party together."

Although for El Porrón the main celebration is January 16th, the eve of Saint Anthony's Day: "It's extremely important. We plan to serve afternoon snacks to more than 250 people throughout the morning. Later, we have lunch orders in two shifts, the first at 1 p.m. for 50 people, a ritual that hasn't changed for three generations of the Galmés family.

"We have a space dedicated to Saint Anthony all year round, but obviously this expands when the big week arrives." There are paintings, mirrors, pictures dedicated to the saint, and many photographs. "People send them to us every year, and we hang them up. We decorate with branches and hang the flags. For El Porrón, Saint Anthony is everything," he points out. "For days now, I've been getting the customers to sing all morning." "If they want herbs, they have to sing," he jokes.

A deeply felt heritage that doesn't, however, imply an obligation to win any prize in the annual bonfire competition: "We haven't won many times, we've had a couple of peaks, first place in 2004... but it's not something that worries us much. We do it for the sheer pleasure of it." The design work begins in October and doesn't stop until just hours before 'planting' the figures on the earth and wood. "Before, we started right after summer. You have to keep in mind that we work nights and Sundays and we don't have much time; but we always manage."