With regional unemployment at 31%, businesses shut, and even the cherries rain-spoiled, gloom is shrouding Jaraíz de la Vera It is a tough time to be a clown in Jaraíz de la Vera, a country town surrounded by cherry orchards and tobacco fields in the western region of Extremadura, where a third of residents are now unemployed. Sonia Rodríguez used to have no problem finding work as a children’s entertainer. “Normally by this time I would have up to 15 bookings for first-communion parties,” she said, leaving the local unemployment office. “I’ve put up posters in several towns, but this year I don’t have a single one.” Where parents in Jaraíz and elsewhere in Spain once budgeted up to €1,000 (£812) to buy and hire fluffy white bridal-style dresses, pint-sized admiral’s suits, presents and clowns for a child’s first communion, this year’s festivities are marked by economic gloom and austerity. The time for celebration is long over

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