42nd Annual Aibonito Festival of Flowers

The best place to be on
the 4th of July weekend

I had been looking forward to this short trip for several months. Like the San Blas Marathon of Coamo, this event draws folks from all over the island. Like any event of this size, traffic sux! We did real well until we hit Aibonito proper. Then it turned into a slow crawl as we passed through town. Part of the traffic issue was due to a bunch of activity at the local cemetery. The entourage had to be a quarter mile long. Fortunately, it was going in the other direction.

The Flower Festival was easy to find and there were plenty of cops directing traffic. The turn off of Hwy 14 lead directly to the main gate. There were about as many exhibitors and concessionaires along this route as there were on the festival grounds.

Weather for the day was broken clouds with heavy haze. So much so that it seemed pretty muggy out. It was also much warmer than I had expected, but not bad. Nothing a cold Medalla couldn’t fix.. Arrg!!!!

It cost $7 per adult to go through the gate, which seemed a little high at the time. The grounds were laid out like a county fair with dedicated gardens and an area along the back for flower, plant and tree vendors. More central to the main area were restrooms, food concessions and vendors doing various demos. There was also a large stage with live music playing continuously. Lots of folks were kicked back soaking up the atmosphere. Behind the stage were several amusement park rides including a carousel, a tilt-a-whirl and kiddy bungee jumping thingy I had never seen before… Wish I was still 10. For the adults, they had the ‘Sledge Hammer’ to test your strength. Did not try that one. Next to this area were even more food vendors serving local fare and a full bar too. That kinda surprised me.

The Plant Sales Area-

There were many varieties of ferns, palms, ginger, pepper plants heavy with peppers, spices of all kinds, fruit trees with fruit ready to eat, all kinds of vegetable plants and hanging baskets too. Did I mention the flowers? hundreds of them to pick from. People were carrying off stuff left and right.

After just a few minutes in the plant sales area, I realized we should have brought our own cart. The serious shoppers were all using those small folding shopping carts. Having lived in Alaska for so long, almost everything was new to me. Except for the trip to the Botanical Gardens in Caguas, I had never seen such an exotic collection of plants and trees. We scored a grafted “Popano” (spl?) avocado tree for $11. They produce huge, long, buttery flavored fruit. Absolutely perfect for Guacamole!

There was also a dedicated area for creative botanical collections, some of which received special awards. Very colorful and beautifully arranged.

Near the main food vendor area was a beautiful man-made lily-pad pool with foot bridge. The grounds were very well maintained. A small army of festival personnel were busy running around picking up trash. I was most impressed.

All in all, it was well worth the $7 to get in.

There were several thousand folks on the grounds of the Flower Festival (Friday afternoon, July 2nd) and about that much more on the outside milling around. A carnival, party like atmosphere for sure, but it felt safe. It took about 2 hours to cover it all.

If you find yourself in PR on the 4th of July, this IS a must see.