'Bride Shortage' In Candeleda, Spain Leads Dating Group To Import Women

CANDELEDA, Spain -- Country boy, meet city girl.

Inspired by a Hollywood western, a Spanish dating association is trying to slow a population drain from the country's beleaguered central villages, introducing bachelors to women bussed in from the big city of Madrid with hopes of ending a bride shortage.

Candeleda, a town of 6,000 on the banks of the picturesque Lobera River, hosted a weekend fiesta to welcome 68 women for a meet-and-greet with the village's single men. Ancient cave paintings show Candeleda has been inhabited for some 5,000 years, and resident Jose Miguel, 67, said he would hate to see its population dwindle after such a long history.

"I've checked out the few widows and single women here," said Miguel. "I signed up for this to meet new ladies and to hopefully show them the beauty of my town."

The group, Asocamu, was set up in 1995 to promote rural re-population by organizing parties for single men and woman, but Spain's painful financial crisis and the lure of city jobs has made the need more pressing than ever, Manuel Gozalo, one of the organizers, said Sunday.

Many villages are falling into ruin, with national statistics showing that of Spain's 5,000 villages up to 100 are under imminent threat of abandonment.

Large swathes of central and northern Spain are at risk of depopulation. In the small agricultural communities of Spain's central plain single, male residents were finding the loneliness too tough to endure, Gozalo said.

Asocamu credits as its inspiration the 1951 film "Westward the Women," starring Robert Taylor and Denise Darcel, which tells the story of how the American west was populated by organizing wagon trains of women to provide company, and brides, for lonely pioneers.

In the red-roofed village of Candeleda, men and women danced, flirted – and considered their prospects. Blanca Fernandez, 52, works in sales in Madrid and was attracted by the idea of a nice day out and a chance for romance.

"I know it's difficult to find the love of one's life, but some of these meetings have led to marriages," she said.

___

Heckle reported from Madrid.

Comments

[music5151]

05:08 PM on 04/23/2012

They should just do the Mitt Romney morman thing. 1 wife, 2 wives, 6 wives...Hell it's a great religion.

[solidermedicabn]

03:47 PM on 04/23/2012

I thought the world wide there are more women than men or am I mistaken?

[AgainstAnimalAbuse]

04:06 PM on 04/23/2012

I thought women are more like 51% or more not just here with the exception of China where until recently female infants were "discarded" as unwanted. Not long ago the government there was offering money for couples to have girls.

[jf12]

08:55 AM on 04/24/2012

No, more men. Worldwide 107 boys born for every 100 girls.

[AgainstAnimalAbuse]

03:38 PM on 04/23/2012

Calling a town of 6,000 a village shows sheer ignorance on the part of any reporter. A village is not an autonomous municipality but it is a group of houses in a more secluded setting part of a larger municipality within its borders. In the US everything abroad is called a village other than a large well-known city, it is shameful and shows arrogance as well as lack of education. Can we join the rest of the world and be more open minded, it's only 2012?!
The imports are from the capital of Spain, hardly imports. Women from Eastern Europe have been flooding many Western European countries, but Spain is possibly not their cup of tea.

[smardy]

03:17 PM on 04/23/2012

out of a thousand lonely men, i hope 10 % will find a long lasting love, among these visiting women.

[AgainstAnimalAbuse]

03:41 PM on 04/23/2012

Didn't China have a shortage of women not long ago? Will the women move there or the men move to Madrid?

[smardy]

02:09 PM on 04/24/2012

its something that doesnt apply to us. they will discuss it. they wil live where they want.China has no shortage of women it is the most populated country in the entire world.