The National Festival and Dressage and Folklore in Jesús María

In 1965, the Cooperative of Escuela Primer Teniente Morandini, located in the city of Jesús María, in Córdoba, began to organize several events and encounters in order to raise money to improve its economic situation, always aiming at benefiting its students. After several meetings, the authorities came up with the idea of celebrating a transcendent festival that could manage to summon local families. Thus, after several opinions about how to succeed in this initiative, the project was approved unanimously to hold the first Festival de Doma y Folclore (Breaking-in and Folklore National Festival). Thinking big, they resolved to invite all the school cooperatives in Jesús María, so that the cause could include the entire school community in the city. That is how they got together until there were ten cooperatives. Those in Colonia Caroya and Estación Caroya later joined in and gave shape to what came to be called La Unión de Cooperadoras Escolares (School Cooperatives Union), whose managing committee was presided by Juan Manuel Corrales.

The first festival took place in January 1966 and was a huge success. Ricardo Smider, along with hostess Lisa Ferrer and spokesmen Ulises Guerreri and Carlos de Negri, entertained an audience of over 45,000 people. Historical records give evidence that the artists included Los Cantores de Quilla Huasi, Alberto Merlo, Los de Córdoba, Los del Suquía, Héctor Roca, Jorge Cafrune, El Chango Nieto and Abel Figueroa, to name a few.