What did Joaquín Ardanuy and Gabriel Granada have in common?… Apart from being natives of Barbastro, they were leading players in the birth of the Artisan Mercantile Society (SMA), in August 1947, conceived in the meetings of friends in the bar “Mi Casa”, in Joaquín Costa street. Ardanuy was the first president and Granada the number 1 partner, thus they went down in the history of the entity.
Granada was a great fan of billiards and died at the age of 100, in Barbastro. During his lifetime he received two recognitions, for the centenary of his birth and the 50th Anniversary of the SMA. Ardanuy’s usual image was different, suit and tie, typical of Almacenes San Pedro, with the kindness typical of all the workers of the reference establishment in the Plaza del Mercado.
The first headquarters were in Monzón street, it opened with an entrance fee of 25 pesetas. From the low social acceptance at the beginning, there was a generalized interest in the number of activities, including dancing. The acquisition of land for the new headquarters was necessary, on Avenida Ejército Español, where it was inaugurated on December 31, 1960, just to celebrate the first New Year’s Eve. In those early years, he highlighted the transformation of Club Deportivo Mercantil into UD Barbastro.
In the file are names of founding partners, Santiago Canut, Joaquín Piedrafita, Enrique Bruned, Serafín López, Julián Soler, Benito Olivera, José Portaspana, Estanislao Lloret, Román Vela, Severo and Pablo Abadías, José Vicente Guidotti, Manuel Ardanuy, José Arcarazo and Miguel Lacoma, among others. Since then, there have been 29 presidents at different stages from Joaquín Ardanuy (1947-1948) to Alejandro Peligero since 2016.
The SMA is a social reference for several generations of Barbastro residents, extensive to people of the region. Just remember the sections of culture, sports, music, recreational (Peña Sport) and varied disciplines that have existed in 75 years. On the track of “La Floresta” thousands of people have passed and acted renowned singers like Julio Iglesias, in the year of Eurovision, in 1970. The list of names would be long, like The Same, Modules, Pekenikes, Raphael, Antonio Machín, Jorge Sepúlveda, Víctor Manuel and Ana Belén, Rafaella Carrá, Mari Trini, Joaquín Sabina , Rosalía, Camilo Sexto, Orquesta Maravella and Los Canarios, who refused to perform before a packed dance floor, at the 1968 Fiestas.
La Floresta has also been stage for singers, local groups and the area, including Antonio Latorre, Los Diapasón, IV Dimension, Jazz Columbia, Estrellas Negras, Gran Casino and others. It is known that Miguel Fleta performed at the Fiestas of 1960 and in the first stage he did, among others, the Ríos Orchestra formed by Alto Aragonese.
In history, the Dinner Club which operated from 1973 to 1990 at the initiative and management of Enrique Gómez, with precedents in 1953. From that time dates one of the first censorship because the film “La cousin Angélica” was not shown in 1975, “at the request of the authorities”. Over the course of 75 years it was not the only time. The birth of the Newsletter it was delayed until 1969 because in 1948 the authorities banned it “based on local regulations”.
There are more censorships, remember the performance by Els Joglars with director Albert Boadella, that it was very “guarded” and served so that the competent authority annulled the lecture by Antonio Duran to avoid “contrasting situations”. That everything has not been a party was also reflected in the resignation of Ramón Martí as director of the Bulletin for the publication of the editorial “Cultural obstruction”. That decision was not the only one because there was censorship for the article “I do not want to be a councilor” by collaborator Joaquín Coll, which was not published in number 45 of the Bulletin, in October 1973. Years later, he was a councilor in the City Council.
Future vision
The SMA has had a lot to do with local history and among the significant actions, the purchase of land of the Auxini Residence with subsequent transfer to the City Council for the construction of the Barbastro Hospital, between November 1974 and April 1975 in the Manuel Torrente stage. Almost immediately followed by the purchase of land in El Ariño with President Hernán Cortés and the construction of swimming pools, sports facilities and urbanization with Fernando Noguero with a vision of the future.
Thanks to the initiative of the SMA, the people of Barbastro have the “History of Barbastro” written by Saturnino López Novoa (1861), republished in two volumes in 1981. In the sporty Look, activities and teams include basketball, billiards, swimming, motorcycling, weightlifting, tennis, archery, volleyball, indoor soccer and chess, among the most significant disciplines.
In the cultural section, the contribution of Theater “Art Picture” since 1951 with the previous “Galas de Arte” by master Melendo, without forgetting the Theater Group “Talia” at the initiative of Barbastro Tino Trallero. In short, the contribution of the SMA to social life, in 75 years, is creditor of the best recognition of the people of Barbastro. The complete story has been compiled by Juan José Nieto and José Luis Pano in a book to be published on the initiative of Gráficas Editores.
