Garachico postpones its traditional Crafts Fair at least until next October because the municipality has not yet received a response regarding a subsidy from the Cabildo de Tenerife that the mayor, Jose Heriberto Gonzalez (CC), considers it essential for this event to be held again in the town. The northern president acknowledges that since the withdrawal of the restrictions imposed by the situation of the pandemic in the Canary Islands, the Garachiquense Consistory unsuccessfully tried to organize this fair in mid-July, as is traditional.
«The Government of the Canary Islands removed the sanitary measures on events of this type in mid-April and, from then on, organize a Craft Fair like the one in Garachico It is something that cannot be done in just two and a half months, if you want to do it well, ”says the mayor in a message addressed to neighbors through the social network Facebook.
However, the main problem for the organization of the fair has been financial, according to the president: «For the financing of this event we always have the co-financing of the Island Council of Tenerife, which, this year, and also as a result of the situation of uncertainty generated by the pandemic situation, has delayed the call for subsidies for this type of fair. To this day, there is still no resolution on the granting of these island subsidies ».
«Garachico This year it especially needed this financing, since, after two years without being able to organize this meeting with traditional trades, the stalls and stalls of the fair are very deteriorated and it is necessary to replace them completely, with the extra investment that this will entail for this municipality», details González.
The lack of preparation time and external financing have prevented, according to the mayor of Garachico, organizing the fair during this month. However, he announces that “there is an alternative” and that his government works with the forecast that “if the Cabildo resolves the subsidy in our favor, something that is very predictable, we will be able to organize our Crafts Fair in October, a month with still favorable weather and in which last year’s was already organized, although only with the craftsmen’s stalls». González recalls that the participants were very satisfied with “the large number of products they sold thanks to the fact that it is a propitious month for tourism.”
Return of the Ventorrillos
The intention of the local government (CC) is that the Garachico Craft Fair also return in the month of October 2022, but this time “completely”, that is, also with the taverns where attendees can drink and eat during their visit. González also advances that “if this time the experience offers satisfactory results again, the idea that we will launch for the future is to organize two craft fairs a year in the town: the main one, in July, coinciding with the beginning of the summer season, and the other in October, near the end of summer, as one more event in our town and as one more possibility for craftsmen and women to promote and sell their products». A double appointment with crafts that, according to González, “would also be a new source of financing for our cultural, sports and festival associations and commissions to obtain extra resources, which is sorely lacking in these difficult times.”
