The National Sea Festival is a festival held annually at Mar del Plata

Mar del Plata

Mar del Plata is an Argentine city located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, south of Buenos Aires. Mar del Plata is the second largest city of Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" had apparently the sense of "sea of the Río de la Plata region" or "adjoining sea to the Río de la Plata"...

, Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 since 1910, during the month of February to mark the beginning of the summer season. The event is organized by the municipal government

Municipality

A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

 since 1952, and it became a national festival in 1972.

History

Timeline

Year	Events
1910	The festival was first held on 23 February 1910. The contest was participated in by twelve young girls, most of them daughters of local lifeguard Lifeguard A lifeguard supervises the safety and rescue of swimmers, surfers, and other water sports participants such as in a swimming pool, water park, or beach. Lifeguards are strong swimmers and trained in first aid, certified in water rescue using a variety of aids and equipment depending on... s and fishermen. The winner, however, was a 17-year-old teacher, Emilia Bonacci. Her princesses were Vicenta Carboni, Aida Garcia, Antonia Martinez, Basilia Martinez, Pilar Bordoni and Dolinda Carboni. The jury members were: Zelmira Gainza Paz, Otilia Alcorta de Rodriguez and Maria Demarchi Roca. The contest took place at the "Odeón" theater and the Queen and her princesses were paraded in a ship-shaped carriage Carriage A carriage is a wheeled vehicle for people, usually horse-drawn; litters and sedan chairs are excluded, since they are wheelless vehicles. The carriage is especially designed for private passenger use and for comfort or elegance, though some are also used to transport goods. It may be light,...  with a length of 40 feet (12.2 m) and profusely illuminated. The procession Procession A procession is an organized body of people advancing in a formal or ceremonial manner.-Procession elements:...  walked across the town, escorted by young sailors carrying torches.
1932	After a lapse of 22 years, a new contest was held and the 19 years old Dora Lombardo won the crown among nine contenders.
1952	The continuity of the festival was compromised by the political situation in Argentina and abroad, but it was held again in 1952 with the support of the Municipal Agency of Tourism, and the winner of the contest was awarded the title of "Miss Mar del Plata". The recurrent crises in the country prevented the organization of the festival until 1967.
1967	That year the title of "Miss Mar del Plata" was replaced for that of "Provincial Queen of the Sea". The new venue was the "Auditorium" theater, and the newly elected Queen officially opened the summer season.

National Festival status since 1972

The Federal Government grants the status of National Festival to the celebration since 1972. The National Festival is organized by the former Department of Tourism -today's Municipal Agency of Tourism. The event is televised throughout the country. The stages and places were the Festival takes place have changed through the decades: in 1972 the venue was the "Club Naútico", an exclusive tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 and rowing

Sport rowing

Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...

 club from where one of the top stars of the Argentinian tennis came out to fame: Guillermo Vilas

Guillermo Vilas

Guillermo Apolinario Vilas is a retired and former World No. 2 professional tennis player from Argentina. He was the second Latin-American to win a Grand Slam tournament.-Career:...

. Later, from 1973 and up to 1980 the festival was held at the "Auditorium" theater, the exception being 1979 when it took place in the "Provincial" hotel. Between 1981 and 1983, the chosen stage was the José María Minella Stadium

Estadio José Maria Minella

The Estadio José María Minella is a stadium in Mar del Plata, Argentina.The stadium was built for the 1978 World Cup. It has capacity for 35,354 spectators, although some of the capacity is standing only, like many Argentine stadiums....

. From 1984 to date, the show is represented at "Las Toscas" beach, an outdoor arena where thousands of tourists and residents gather to enjoy the festival. Like in 1910, the winner is elected among twelve local girls between 16 and 25 years old. Nowadays, the task of National Queen of the Sea implies more responsibilities than that of 1910, since during her period she acts as the main representative of the city of Mar del Plata in different regional and national events.