Straying decidedly furth of the parish here, but seems appropriate for Easter: presenting la Virgen del Carmen, ‘patron saint and honorary mayor’ of Torremolinos, according to this mural on a local church:

Torremolinos broke away from Málaga to become an independent municipality in 1988, after a long local autonomy campaign. Here are locals celebrating the decision in 88 (picture @DiarioSUR)

(Incidentally, and I’m sure I’m not alone in this, I now can’t say ‘Torremolinos’ without accidentally channeling the great @JaneyGodley)

The town is imbued with a sense of civic identity and local distinctiveness, bound up in Catholic imagery, contradicting the stereotype of bland Costa del Sol tourist resorts. Here’s one of the more striking street signs:

I was in Torremolinos just after the Feria del Carmen, centring on the Carihuela neighbourhood, during which a statue of the Virgin (here referred to as alcaldesa - mayor) is carried from the church to the beach by locals dressed in sailor outfits as shown in this poster:

Now, some Scottish towns have an honorary Provost (e.g. I believe Hawick has named one each year for the Common Riding since regionalisation abolished real town Provosts in 1975), but this is something else... Catholic Municipalism/municipal Catholicism?

Carmen was everywhere around Carihuela, and not just for the duration of the festival it seems. Big love for the alcaldesa.

Some of this seems to relate to efforts by the Ayuntamiento (town hall) to promote the ‘traditional’ fishing neighbourhoods of Carihuela and Bajondillo alongside the customary Costa de Sol tourist fare:

Speaking of the Ayuntamiento, here it is in all it’s glory. The broken heart sign reads ‘no violence against women’

With those clean lines and bursts of colour, it’s not a million miles away from the more visible (to tourists) architecture of the chiringuitos on the beachfront

Finally... I don’t really know what’s going on here, but it’s certainly something. Fair play Torremolinos, you have major Small Town Energy (trademark pending).