Check out the Flower Fair in Medellín, with its utmost event, the Silleteros Parade which conjures up a myth of the ‘everlasting spring’.
At the end of the celebration there used to be a splendid gala ball in the stunning Golden Room of the Club Unión, located on the symbolic Junin Avenue, where 'Miss Orchid' was then crowned.
Later in 1957, around forty peasants from the village of Santa Elena participated in the first silletero (flower carrier) parade in Medellín during the old Flower Festival.
Half a century later, over 500 patient flower growers descend from the magical mountains of that small community to color the city during the central event of the Flower Fair - a traditional Medellín feast.
The event, which originated several years ago as an agriculture and trade exhibit of the Santa Elena farmers which gradually became an art that, apart from involving the arduous, persevering labor of the silletero, reflects the creative abilities of the peasants of Antioquia.
The silletas - the artifacts that the present day mule drivers carry on their backs with an esthetical profusion of flowers - represent yesteryear's tradition of the only means of transportation for carrying their belongings, their families, and naturally, their flowers.
During the 19th century, there was no other way of carrying their multicolored harvest from the mountains to the city. The silleta was also the means of carrying heavy loads and, of course, children and sick people.
From the very beginning, this celebration changed its nature of a party into more of a fair, and for the last two decades, it has kept its name of Flower Fair and has even organised beauty contents where the 'Miss Orchid' is crowned at the end of the fair.
A woman walks next to a "silleta" flower arrangements depicting outgoing Colombian president Alvaro Uribe and new Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, during the traditional "Silleteros" Parade of the Flower Fair in Medellin, Antioquia deparment, Colombia.
A farmer wears a flower on the head next to a "silleta" flower arrangement during the traditional "Silleteros" Parade of the Flower Fair in Medellin.
Colombian actors get ready to perform during the traditional "Silleteros" Parade in Medellin
A farmer sits next to "silletas" flower arrangements during the "Silleteros" Parade of the Flower Fair in Medellin
A farmer walks along the street carrying a "silleta" flower arrangement during the "Silleteros" Parade of the Flower Fair in Medellin.
A farmer stands next to "silletas" flower arrangements. Colombia is one of the major flower exporters in the world.
