How sweet it is: the Orange Festival

by Emily Zhukov

Overshadowed by the popular fervor that anticipates and surrounds Carnival, Panama’s local agricultural fairs get short shrift. Penonomé’s Orange Festival, held at the peak of the orange harvest in Churuquita Grande, is a delightful excursion into local traditions. Neighboring communities compete in the construction of original ranchos from which to sell their produce. Each community also presents a candidate for festival queen, who must walk, talk and dance in all subsequent public functions. This year’s crown went to Omaris Martínez Soto, who has a long history of involvement in her community of Barrero. She is initiating a civic project under her reign, the establishment of a seedling nursery to promote the local citrus production.

The Churuquita orange is different, sweeter and juicier than its cousins from El Valle and La Pintada. A visitor to the festival can buy 100-count sacks at ridiculously low prices, as well as saril, guandú and pipa by the barrow. Other local treats include a panopoly of sweets made from panela, a molasses flavored sugar by-product — cocada, manjar and gingerbread. There is also the traditional fair food, plates of grilled meat, rice and plantains. At the Barrero rancho, built like a two-story orange, the queen’s family sold fresh squeezed orange juice and homemade orange cake, but in general, citrus based goodies were oddly lacking.

The fair is not all food. Artisans sell their wares, baskets, hats, wood and soapstone carvings, and irresistibly kitsch shell figurines. There are rides and games for the kids, and the usual array of dime store jewelry and toys. There is a discotheque at night and visiting folk dance groups swirl all day long on the stage, where the queen and her court preside over the festivities. And there are the booths: educational, institutional, political and of course, agricultural. The farmers gathered around posters explaining improved strains of tubers and citrus. There was talk of prohibitive transport costs, the lack of government subsidies and how to make the Churuquita orange competitive.

Nearby, the IPAT booth held a coloring contest for kids. This is IPAT’s second year at the festival, explained Marta Bustavino. The bureau is trying to promote "cultural tourism" in the area, holding workshops to train locals in the business of attracting and servicing tourists. This part of Coclé certainly has as much to offer as the much touted El Valle. The roads are good. The ocean is near. There are mountains, rivers and waterfalls, and thus hiking, swimming and horseback riding. Two hotels, La Iguana and Posada Cerro La Vieja, offer comfortable lodgings. But while festival organizers were happy to see an increase in booth attendance this year and in television coverage, there were few tourists. In fact, this reporter was pursued by TV cameras as the sample "tourist!"

There are plans to expand the Orange Festival to include a rodeo, sports events and a larger midway, much like the Chorrera Fair. While this may bring in more people and money, it will also bring in more carnies and cantinas, and change the peaceful, family oriented nature of this festival under the orange trees.