BRIEFS. arts & entertainment

President Torrijos opens boquete flower fair

sandra alicia rivera/la prensa

demanding beauty: Fair volunteers worked around the clock since November to salvage flooded flowerbeds.1144612

For the first time during his administration, President Martín Torrijos will preside over the opening ceremony of the country’s famed International Flower Festival and Coffee Exhibition today in Boquete, Chiriquí. Fair Vice President Mario Serrano said that this year’s event will be organized completely differently to those of the past, and explained that there would be more than a million flowers blossoming in over 40 gardens. The changes have much to do with the festival’s challenge to repair $250,000 in damages to gardens and fairgrounds left in wake of November’s floods. Teams worked around the clock for the past two months to restore flowerbeds that had been covered in two meters of mud. Festival workers even created canals and a bridge over the Caldera River to minimize the impact of future floods.

The ultra-photogenic fair encompasses some 44 gardens throughout the Boquete district, of which 14 were rehabilitated by fair workers and 17 were turned over to volunteers known as “godparents” to oversee their care.

A wide variety of flowers were flown in from the United States and Costa Rica, while others have been cultivated by local growers.

The fair runs until January 18.

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