• The fair features a program with a carnival parade, musical performances, and two fashion show sessions showcasing textiles and accessories made in Gran Canaria.
• Sixty-eight artisans from 16 municipalities are present, offering a display of 24 of the 87 artisan trades that make up the Canary Islands Artisan Repertoire.

With the Maspalomas Lighthouse as a witness, the Gran Canaria Spring South Crafts Fair inaugurated its thirteenth edition on Friday, March 15. It features 68 artisans from 16 municipalities of Gran Canaria. The fair offers a display of 24 artisan trades out of the 87 that make up the Canary Islands Artisan Repertoire. Pottery, basketry, cutlery, ceramics, jewellery, blacksmithing, wool spinning, and footwear production, among others, are showcased, guaranteeing the highest quality products and preserving the labour traditions of our land.

The Counselor for Economic Development, Industry, Commerce, and Handicrafts of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, Minerva Alonso, accompanied by the Mayor of the Municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana, Marco Aurelio Pérez, the managing director of Fedac, Águeda Hernández, and the general director of Infecar, Gran Canaria Fair, Natalia Santana, toured each of the stands at this event, welcoming them to this edition and getting to know their pieces first-hand.

“Today we inaugurate a crafts fair that is full of novelties, with the presence of 68 artisans from Gran Canaria, offering tourists who are spending their holidays in the south of our island the best of our popular heritage,” said Counselor Minerva Alonso during the inauguration.

This will be the first Gran Canaria Spring South Crafts Fair organized by Infecar, “and it debuts with a dynamic program that will feature musical performances on both Fridays, fashion shows in the morning and afternoon on Saturday, and a carnival parade.”

Regarding the sales expected to be made over these ten days, Minerva Alonso pointed out that, “although there are no estimated figures, since the pandemic, revenue has been progressively increasing. In 2021, revenue was €77,000; in 2022, €134,000. And the latest in 2023, €137,000. We expect this year’s revenue to increase, and we are confident that it will.” For his part, Marco Aurelio Pérez, Mayor of the Municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana, a collaborator of this Crafts Fair, pointed out that “success is guaranteed.

We are in an area where nature blesses us with its benefits, and in addition, hotel occupancy is at full capacity, which guarantees the flow of customers throughout these days.” The crafts of Gran Canaria, as a sample of the art and cultural tradition of the people, represent the identity and generational legacy of ancient trades, offering a great diversity of unique products or limited series manufactured by the privileged hands of creators who care for each piece in detail.

The Gran Canaria Spring South Crafts Fair will remain open until Sunday, March 24, from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., featuring 68 artisans showcasing their creations in ceramics, pottery and modelling; leather goods; fabric decoration; jewellery; macramé; crochet; dressmaking; glassware; almazuelas; toys; miniatures; recycled materials; traditional carpentry; candle making; cabinet making; blacksmithing, forging, and locksmithing; soap making; doll making; doll making and dressmaking; woodturning; paper and cardboard; cigars; and printing and engraving.

As for their origin, the participants of this thirteenth edition land at the Maspalomas Lighthouse from 16 of the municipalities of Gran Canaria, with 29 from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, nine from Agüimes, six from San Bartolomé de Tirajana and Telde; three from Santa Lucía de Tirajana; two from Ingenio, Santa Brígida, Santa María de Guía, and Teror; and one from Agaete, Arucas, Firgas, Gáldar, Mogán, Moya, and Valsequillo.

Dynamization program

In addition to learning about the artisanal work of the participants in this crafts fair, visitors to this edition can enjoy a dynamic program for the two weekends during which the fair takes place, presenting an incentive for as many citizens as possible to join this event. This program premiered this Friday, with a musical performance by Abraham Ramos and Juan Sebastián Ramírez featuring the timple.

This Sunday, a carnival parade representative of the Gran Canaria Carnival will take place from 12:30 p.m. For the following weekend, on Friday the 22nd, at 12:30 p.m., there will be a musical performance by the Trío Con-Trastres; and on Saturday the 23rd, there will be a fashion show featuring textiles and accessories made in Gran Canaria, at 12:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m., respectively. Likewise, the fair also features a live crafts space, where the participants of this event will be the protagonists, showing how they make their products.

Potter María Teresa Ríos made the debut, bringing one of the oldest artisan trades closer to the audience on this first day of the fair. The details of the program, as well as the artisans, present at this thirteenth edition of the Gran Canaria Spring South Crafts Fair, can be found at feriasartesaniagrancanaria.es.

The Gran Canaria Spring South Crafts Fair is promoted and financed by the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, supported by the Fund for Ethnography and the Development of Canary Islands Crafts (Fedac), an autonomous body attached to the Ministry of Economic Development, Industry, Commerce, and Handicrafts; it is organized by Infecar, Gran Canaria Fair, and with the collaboration of the Municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana.