This weekend, one of the notable events of the year is happening at the Atlapa Convention Center in Panamà City – the Feria Nacional de Artesenìas, or National Artisan Fair. We’d heard that over 600 artisans were going to be there. We’ve been a huge fan of going to art fairs, so this was a must do on our schedule as soon as we learned about it.

Turns out, it’s so much more than an art fair. It’s a cultural celebration of the diversity of Panamà.

After buying our tickets ($1.50 each with our jubilado visa discounts), we headed to the entrance.

The entire event has heavy government participation, and they’re very interested in learning how people like it. We were approached to complete a survey by a smiling young man. We explained we didn’t know much Spanish, at which point he switched to English, and said, “Great! I can do English too.”

Also located throughout the venue are screens informing you of the cultural dance and music displays happening on the stages (yes, there are multiple) throughout the day.

And, just in case you can’t make it to one of the stages, they have the programs livestreamed on video monitors throughout the venue.

Of course, it was just a matter of time before we found the stages. There were new groups dancing and displaying every 15 minutes.

One of the highlights of the area was the food court, where traditional Panamanian cuisne could be found.

Now, for the reason we came – the art! It was everywhere. Over 600 artisans. I have to admit I was skeptical and expected more than a few to be selling “made in China” souvenirs. I was so very wrong. Every vendor had handcrafted wares on display, and they were amazing.

The carvings were amazing (and yes, those hats in the second picture are carved out of wood! The weaving in several different colours was spectacular.

It was common to see the performers in the crowd, so there was plenty of people there in traditional dress. This young lady very kindly let me take a picture of her ornate hair decorations.

In case you had a desire for some of the traditional Panamanian clothing yourself, that was available too.

The artisans were organized by location. Panamà has several native people, so it was fascinating to see the art represented from the different regions. These were some of my favourite sculptures from the Bocas region.

Representatives of the Embera tribe were there doing traditional body art painting.

It’s difficult to describe just how large this event is. This is a picture of just one of the aisles in the one of the rooms. There were more than a dozen rooms, each with at least 10 aisles like this one.

Not surprisingly, we spent hours exploring all the arts, watching the dancing, and talking with the vendors. I ended up making one purchase – this one from someone from the Central Provinces.

These are scenes painted on feathers – in this case, parrot feathers. The artist told me how he collects the feathers (they’re shed naturally), and then find scene that will fit to the shape of the feather. He had several different sizes, and showed me all the different birds’ feathers that he used. One of these I’m keeping, and the other is earmarked for a friend.

It was such a great time. We’re already looking forward to next year.