“I want to start by giving a special greeting to La Palma. We will not forget it and we will never forget it, “said the mayor of La Orotava, Francisco Linares, and immediately afterwards, he congratulated the artisans” for being a resilient species, absolute survivors, because they have had little support and little listening during the last 20 months ”.
Linares made these statements within the framework of the inauguration of the XXXVI Pinolere Handicraft Fair, dedicated this year to paper and cardboard with the participation of 180 artisans and a strict control of capacity to guarantee safety. The exhibition has become an unavoidable appointment not only for the sector but also for politicians from all parties who, beyond their institutional position, decide to attend each year.
The president also took the opportunity to criticize the way of “calibrating” sports and cultural events: “Perhaps it is time to think that culture needs viability, oxygen and that in a theme park like this, of 10,000 square meters, there is enough space to thousands of visitors and yet there will be 750 ”.
The event was also attended by the Vice President of Industry and Commerce of the Canary Islands Government, Justo Artiles; the president of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Pedro Martín, and the president of the Pinolere Cultural Association, Leoncio Luis, who regretted that this year the fair “cannot smell like a pincho and ventorrillo” although he thanked the institutions that “it can continue standing” and he trusted that it will do so “for many years to come.”
For his part, Artiles congratulated the organization for retaking it and the City Council for giving continuity to a fair in which “elements of crafts, culture and neighborhood converge, and that makes it different from others.”
The last to demonstrate was Pedro Martín, who also congratulated “those who are capable of maintaining the spirit of Pinolere through thick and thin” and especially the members of the Cultural Association, “for recovering everyone’s heritage.”
During the event, the Cho Feriantes de Honor 2021 were awarded, a distinction with which the aforementioned entity annually recognizes the work, collaboration and support of personalities, companies and institutions.
In this edition, the winners were in the business modality, the Canarian prey farm Samcor de Pedro Miranda Mesa, from La Florida, while in the institutional section it has recognized the work of the associations’ Friends of the Bath of the Goats in the Sea ‘and’ Necinos Pinolere ‘. In the individual modality, the archaeologist and anthropologist Francisco Mireles Betancor and the researcher and historian Antonio Jiménez Medina were awarded, who could not attend to collect the award because flights were canceled at Los Rodeos airport as a result of the ashes of the Cumbre volcano. Old.
For its part, the Consistory presented its Crafts and Heritage Award, which this year went to the bell tollers of the municipality and was presented to the representatives of the parishes of La Concepción and San Juan Bautista.
It was the parish priest of this last church, Roberto León, who challenged the new generations to compose new chimes, in addition to maintaining that historical memory through recordings. “Sometimes modern music is heard in the houses but the detail of the bell, which is also an instrument, must be maintained,” he said.
