Fruit, music, horse races in honour of Santa Marija

The shelter from the sun's rays provided to hundreds at Villa Rundle in Victoria yesterday as they admired the bonanza of fresh fruit and vegetables contrasted sharply with the intense heat felt during the band marches in honour of the Assumption and the horse races along Republic Street.

Thousands of Maltese continued to cross over to the sister island yesterday on what has become for many an annual pilgrimage to recharge their batteries away from their daily humdrum routine.

This year's Sta Marija holiday, usually stretched to one long weekend, appears to have taken on added length by falling in the middle of the week. Hotels, flats and farmhouses started to receive Maltese holiday makers last weekend and by next weekend are expected to be full to capacity. One of the attractions while the Maltese are there in their droves was surely yesterday's traditional Wirja tal-Biedja u Snajja', organised every year by the Socjeta' Agrikola, Industrijali u Kulturali t'Ghawdex at the leafy Villa Rundle gardens.

The plethora of agricultural produce on display at this fair was backed up by the figures released for the occasion: Gozo registered an increase of 13 per cent in the amount of fruit and vegetables that passed through the Pitkali markets in the first six months of this year over the same period last year.

This means that 2.35 million kilogrammes of fruit and vegetables were produced.

Over 4,500 farmers applied for various schemes to improve their yields and manage their operations better through government and EU funds.

Speaking during the presentation of prizes to growers during the fair, which has been organised since 1855, Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono said the agricultural sector had benefitted from EU membership.

Food producers had invested in modern food packaging plants, leading to higher hygiene standards and greater financial returns, she said. Such investment encouraged the producers of cheeselets, honey, tomato products, olive oil and limuncell to come up with better products, in turn making consumers choose local produce rather than imported items.

President Eddie Fenech Adami presided over the prize giving ceremony, which was held at 11 a.m.

This event was followed by band marches by the Leone Philharmonic Society of Victoria with members of the club letting off a lot of steam on this, their day of celebration in Gozo's capital.

Another high-energy activity was the afternoon horse racing held along Republic Street, also known as Triq it-Tigrija. The tradition of holding horse races goes back to when people used to congregate in the old citadels, riding horses, mules and donkeys, giving rise to races by these beasts of burden. Today, of course, it is private cars that predominate - especially at this time of year.