It is pre-election year and it shows. The Pinolere Fair has always been a good showcase in this sense and yesterday was no exception. Politicians from the three administrations (local, insular and regional), opposition councilors from other municipalities, former mayors and mayors and future candidates from the different political parties gathered at the Pinolere Ethnographic Park at the opening ceremony of the 37th edition of the Regional Craft Fair.
In this context, the mayor of La Orotava, Francisco Linares, sent an SOS to public officials: “We must support, continue doing and put a financial record so that Canarian crafts do not die,” he said.
An alert to the future that is symbolized in this year’s poster, in which there is an old heart and a new one, joined by thick arteries and other very weak ones, about to break. “This year we have 60 fewer artisans at the fair, we are no longer talking about 210 as in previous years and that means that the pandemic has taken away many who have stopped living from this and have had to look for other sources of food.”
Therefore, he added, “this sector must be protected, because, if it is not, generational change is not assured and we will have to answer future generations why we did not do what we had to do when it was time to do it so that the Canarian crafts did not die”. The nationalist president went further and made it clear that the Pinolere cultural project “is not these three days of the fair, an easy photo and an obligatory appointment and I will not remember more until next year, but rather it is a living, cultural, pedagogical and educational in which thousands of schoolchildren come to the Park throughout the year to learn the different crafts.
In the same vein, the island president, Pedro Martín, agreed with Linares that the “true” commitment is reflected in the budgets, and stressed that the Cabildo doubled the subsidy for the sector, reaching 20,000 euros. “We are all on that path” and, for this reason, he advanced, “we plan to increase funding throughout the craft sector so that there are groups that can continue to lay the foundations for a future quarry”.
The Minister of Industry, Tourism and Commerce of the Government of the Canary Islands, Yaiza Castilla, underlined the “exemplary work that the Pinolere Cultural Association has been carrying out for many years to maintain our Canary Islands” and cited as evidence the support it receives from the three administrations. “Artisans have shown their resilience during the pandemic and that is why the administrations have their responsibility when it comes to articulating the annual accounts,” she pointed out. At the same time, he said that the regional Administration “is committed to achieving greater integration of the sector in new technologies” and, for this, the Canarian handicrafts web platform was launched to make visible the work of artisans and their products and promote them, an online showcase to which are added, in parallel, other actions aimed at disseminating knowledge of the sector.
The three representatives spoke after the delivery of distinctions, prizes and tributes. The first recognition was for the Living Treasures of the Canary Islands, the motto of this edition. Thus, eight artisans from each island were honored with their student or successor. From Gran Canaria, Juan Ramírez Pérez and Iván María Quintana Ramírez (basketry from Junco, Anea and Lino); the wool weavers, from El Hierro: Maura Padrón Acosta and Venancio Acosta Padrón; from La Palma, to the silk weaver Solbeida Marante de Paz and Elisa Pérez González; to the rose artists, from Lanzarote, Betancort Romero and Antonio Emilio Betancort Fernández; from Tenerife, Marcelino Reyes González and David Guijarro Del Castillo (chestnut basket weaving); from Fuerteventura, the ceramics-pottery of Josefa Acosta Rodríguez (posthumously) and María Victoriana García Acosta were recognized; from La Graciosa, to the traditional clothing of Carmen Hernández Álvarez (who did not attend due to health issues) and María Jesús Páez Páez, and from La Gomera to wicker and cane basketry, with José Correa Méndez and María de la Candelaria Luis Gonzalez.
Next, the Cho Feriantes were awarded, the highest distinction awarded by the Pinolere association to recognize the work, collaboration and selfless support of regional personalities. On this occasion they fell on Juan Manuel Delgado Hernández (neighbor of Pinolere), the Cayetano Méndez Advisory and the Maninidra Neighborhood Association of Florida.
Finally, the Villa de La Orotava Craft and Heritage Prize was awarded, which has been awarded by the City Council since 2004 and which this year went to the North Tenerife Beekeepers Association and the Tenerife Beekeepers Association on behalf of all beekeepers in the municipality. .
The fair reopens its doors today, from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., so that the public can enjoy, another year, a true showcase of the different crafts, a seed that was planted 38 years ago by a group of people from the neighborhood and that has resulted in having one of the best fairs in the world in a unique environment such as the Pinolere Ethnographic Park.
