This Coca-Cola Shrink Wrap Bottle was produced for the 50th Anniversary of the Feria de las Flores [Flower Festival] held from August 03-12, 2007 in Medellin, Colombia.

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Festival of the Flowers (Spanish: Feria de las Flores) is a festival that takes place in the Colombian city of Medellín. The festival is the most important social event for the city and features the Silleteros Parade, a pageant, automobiles, a Paso Fino horse parade and many musical concerts.

The first Festival of the Flowers took place on May 1, 1957 and was organized by Arturo Uribe, then member of the Board of the Office of Development and Tourism. The festival lasted for 5 days with an exposition of flowers displayed in the Metropolitan Cathedral, which was organized by the Gardening Club of Medellín and monsignor Tulio Botero to celebrate Virgin Mary day. The first Silleteros Parade also took place with some 40 men from the corregimiento of Santa Elena carrying on their backs flower arrangements to the exposition site.

The festival initially took place during the month of May but was changed to August in 1958 to celebrate the Independence of Antioquia. Since then other events have been added like the International Pageant of the Flowers, the horse parade, Guiness Records in 1996 and 1999, classic automobiles parade, Orchids exposition, among others.

Annual event with national and international recognition, offers to the visitors more than 140 cultural, traditional and modern events such as: National Equine Fair, Inauguration festival of orchestras, Night club Tent (Juan Pablo II), Pavilion of Stars (Palace of Exhibitions), National Festival of the Trova, Children's Park "Zone that Sounds", Parade of Classic and Old, Infantile Parade of Silleteritos in the Floresta, Market of Sanalejo, 8° Canine Long walk, Tablados Musical and Cultural in different places of the city, Parade of Musicomarciales Bands in the floresta, Festival of the Memory and the Folksong, Nocturnal Cultural Park, Orchids, Birds and Flowers, City Humour, Contest of Women Talent (it promotes the real value and social recognition of young women), Festival of the Heartache at the Northern Bus Station, Carriers, Mules and Fondas, Cavalcade Fair of the Flowers, Caravan of Kids and Flowers, National Championship of Sound on Wheels, among others.

This year the city will be celebrating since on August 12th we commemorate 50 years of the Parade of Silleteros.

 

Medellin’s flower festival culminates in a parade of flower vendors, the silleteros who once walked in from the mountains.

Small farmers from the mountains outside Medellin parade their “silletos” through the streets, highlight of the August 7th Feria de las Flores.
Photo: Albeiro Lopera for Reuters

For centuries the cool, bright climate of the Colombian Andes has been flower country. The province of Antioquia prides itself on some of the most robust gladiolas, orchids, carnations and roses anywhere, making Colombia’s flower industry, “the second largest in the world, surpassed only by that of the Netherlands.”

Long before this region’s floriculture took the international stage, campesinos (small-scale farmers) from the mountains outside Medellin would bring flowers to town to sell. Since there were few roads in the highlands, and very few people who owned cars, most flower vendors carried their wares on their backs, wedging the blooms into big wooden frames called silletos, and lugging them to the city. The vendors, known as silleteros, unloaded and sold their flowers in certain spots across the city, notably la Placita de Flores in the barrio Buenos Aires.

In 1957, Arturo Uribe Arango of the Medellin tourist board asked the silleteros to parade through town as the climax of Medellin’s Feria de las Flores, an incredible spectacle of floricultural prowess, folk economics, and human strength. This year nearly 500 silleteros marched in the August 7 parade. The event included both traditional silletos and commercially sponsored ones, and this year children carried flowers too.

Silleteros Parade
Medellin, Colombia
Photo: El Colombiano

The older silletos were indeed shaped like chairs ("sillas" in Spanish) and worn like backpacks, but the more elaborate designs of today are shaped into immense medallions. Some weigh as much as 70 kilos (154 pounds). For lots more about the festival and its history, see El Colombiano’s splendid site (in Spanish, por cierto). Here are some gorgeous photos, courtesy of the Colombian Embassy in Italy. And here’s another good batch of photos.

Put August 7th on your international flower calendar. We hope to meet you in Medellin for next year’s parade

 

 

The country's flower industry is the second largest in the world after The Netherlands and worth over US $950 million per annum. There are 700 farms with over 6, 950 hectares dedicated to flower crops. It's this industry that Colombia is hoping will transform the image of the country from one of drugs and violence to one of passion.

Each year La Feria de las Flores de Medellin (Medellin's Flower Festival) is held in the first two weeks of August to celebrate and inspire the country's flower growers, called Silleteros.

They carry Silletas, large wooden frameworks, on their backs sometimes weighing over 100 kilograms. The Silletas are adorned with thousands of flowers making a pattern.

Luis and Hernan Soto are two brothers who won this year's festival in Medellin, located in the flower heartland of Colombia. Hernan says the history of the Silleteros started back in 1957 when the flower growers first performed through the streets of Medellin.
 

• Just released in August 2007

• Shrink Wrap Bottle from Colombia