Jaco Arts Festival is a Raving Success
As opposed to last years fiasco where the organizers located the festival grounds in a sodden earth vacant lot that turned into a swamp when the rains began. This year, the Jaco Arts Festival was held at the new Ecological Park in Jaco donated by the Chinese government.
Hand-laid brick sidewalks, kidney shaped islands filled with tropical plants, night-lighting, and a heavy police presence was a dramatic shift from last years show. It seems that the organizer learned his lessons and applied them in earnest. The result was a magnificent event that was filled with the laughter of children and moms strolling throughout the day and with live music during the evenings.
The most popular items this year was the low cost but highly personalized necklace made with one grain of rice. The vendor sells a necklace with standard black thread as the necklace with a clear plastic tube which encapsulated a single grain of rice. Then the vendor writes the name of your choice on the tiny grain of rice and then seals it inside the capsule. For a thousand colones, this item was selling like wildfire during the 9 day festival.
The events timing did not hamper the results of the people turning out. Many tourists are not here at the beginning of February so vendors did not get these buyers to visit them but the locals, mainly expats and ticos filled the event each day and night. Most popular item for locals were the heavy, large plant pottery to adorn your garden or perhaps inside your home. One local expat Lisa said “they(pottery) are an incredible deal for the quality and design for us locals. I could not imagine how a tourist could expect to ship this item back home and I certainly do not think the artist thought tourist were his buyers.”
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