Hidden in a corner, behind the stall, there is a curious and old pink box that the artisan Olivia Díaz Frías, 80, protects with affection. His mother gave it to him, from whom he learned everything about the nougat tradition, so that he could use it to transport sweets from party to party and from fair to fair. He continues to keep it, decorated inside with numerous religious prints, and he continues to accompany her “on my tour of all the Islands,” he jokes. This weekend, Olivia, her pink box, and her son Francisco Pérez, to whom she has transmitted all her knowledge about this artisanal art, have been part of the 36th edition of the Pinolere Handicraft Fair, in La Orotava, a one of the most important in the Canary Islands, which has reopened after a year of hiatus due to the Covid 19 pandemic.
Olivia Díaz, a pastry chef from Tacoronte whom the Pinolere Cultural Association honored yesterday for participating in the craft fair since it started 36 years ago, once again showed her smile and enthusiasm to the many visitors who came this weekend. week until the show, celebrating that “everything is over.” “We have suffered a very tough season without fairs or popular festivals due to this bug, but we have already returned, although now I am more a companion than a manager, because my son has taken over the business,” says this nougat.
Declares to THE DAY that it had never crossed his mind that “this world would have to face such a pandemic, that it would leave people at home, that it would destroy the artisan economy; but it seems that we are breathing again ». Of course, Olivia points out that it is necessary for the island’s crafts to receive more aid from the administration, that “they don’t make us pay for the stalls,” and that more fairs be held so that “it doesn’t end up dying.”
“If they do not help us, especially after what this sector has suffered with the pandemic, crafts, traditions, will end up disappearing,” he adds. About the tribute, Olivia comments that she is flattered, “but what makes me happy is that people like my work, my nougats, and that they come back to buy more.”
Olivia’s nougat is one of the 180 artisan stalls, from all the Islands, who have participated in this edition of the Pinolere Fair, with which the cultural association is gambling its future, after a year and a half without be able to organize not a single event. Yesterday, Saturday, both artisans and the public assured that the exhibition was “very lively” and that it had “returned with force.” Only in the morning, and with all the anticovid protection measures, more than 1,700 people had entered the premises.
Among them was the marriage formed by Asunción Palancares and Cesareo Rodríguez, who said that they did not miss a single edition of the fair. «We love it, because many things remind us of our childhood. In addition, we have to help the sector so that traditions do not disappear, “they said.
In this exhibition, located in the Pinolere Ethnographic Park and dedicated this year to paper and cardboard, you can find all kinds of products and handicrafts, such as jewelry, toys, musical instruments, clothing, bags, furniture, knives, candles, engravings , pictures, cigars, sweets and ice cream. The artisans are optimistic “about the return to normality, since from now on a few fairs will be held in different parts of the Islands.” “We are confident that we will be able to recoup the losses we have suffered,” says Emma Vilageliu, specialist in enameled jewelery.
Emma says that 2020 “has been a very tough year for the sector.” «With the Pinolere Fair it happened to us that we were at the gates of it being held. They warned us a few hours before that this could not be carried out. We had a lot of losses. We believe that it was very unfair, since the fairs are held outdoors, while in closed areas many people were allowed access ”, he says.
Of course, he adds, “the pandemic has left us something very positive, and that is that it has united us, so we artisans are organizing ourselves.” In this sense, both Emma Vilageliu, as well as the rest of the artisans, They demand more fairs, more aid and “to have a permanent space in which to sell throughout the year”.
The Pinolere Fair will also open today. The entry, 2.50 euros, can be purchased at the venue or on the platform tickety.es. The hours are from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m..
