THE FLOWER FESTIVAL: Tradition and Patrimony

Every year The Flowers Festival (Feria de las Flores) takes place in Medellín (Antioquia, Colombia) a city also known as “The City of Eternal Spring”. This Festival has been celebrated since 1957 and its main event is the Silleteros Parade (Desfile de Silleteros), around which the Festival took place for the first time. 

In the first half of the XX century the Silletas were used by the local farmers (Silleteros), inhabitants of the Santa Elena suburb, to transport goods as well as travelers to and from the city through the mountains. During those days the Silleteros went from door to door carrying on their Silletas goods and flowers, that later will be offered to the locals in front of the temples, small squares and on the streets.

The first Festival took place on March 1st thanks to the hard work of Arturo Uribe, a member of the Tourism Office Board at that time, who wanted to showcase the beauty of the flowers grown by the and entertain the locals. That year forty Silleteros and country people from the Santa Elena suburb were the ones in charge of the first Silletero Parade, at the same time a flower exhibit was also organized by the Gardening Club of Medellín and Monsignor Tulio Botero. From that year on the Festival has been celebrated every year; however; since 1958 the Parade is celebrated in august in order to commemorate Antioquia’s independence date.

Each year the participating Silletas are judged and awarded within this three categories:

Traditional Silletas, which are the closest representation to the ones used by the farmers back in the early XX century. It’s a simple box made of light wood that allows the display of different flowers varieties.

Emblematic Silletas, which are arranged according to a specific topic related to national or international events of big impact.

Monumental Silletas, which are consider to be an evolution of the traditional Silleta. They are characterized for being the biggest and most colorful of all. This type of Silleta can weigh until 100 kg and can also have more than 4 meters of diameter. Their incredible designs comes from the imagination of the Silleteros.

Another variant of the Monumental Silleta is the tridimensional one, on it we can appreciate  landscapes, famous characters and tridimensional objects.

There is also another variety the Institutional or Corporative Silleta, which is not awarded, dedicated to reproduce companies logos and symbols. They usually remain for a long time within companies facilities.

Nowadays the Festival has integrated new and different events, such as the antique car parade, concerts and street markets, among others, the Festival is considered one of the primary cultural events of the city, with hundreds of spaces that provide fun for all the family and tourists. This year Flores del Lago was part of this important celebration with two “Silletas”, both of them were exposed for the public to see in front of its facilities.

To learn more about the Festival we invite you to visit the Official Flowers Festival site