The National Crafts Fair organized by the Ministry of Culture and will be held from June 19 to June 23 at the ATLAPA Convention Center with the participation of about 400 artisans will be part of the Visit Panama calendar that promotes the Panama Tourism Authority.

The announcement was met at the meeting with the national press, where the incumbent of Culture, Giselle González Villarrué gave details about the organization of the Forty-Fourth version of the FN that is the second that takes place under the responsibility of MiCultura and that this year dedicated to the "production techniques of traditional costumes."

Just as last year, this fair will be a showcase for Panamanian artisans to show their products to national and foreign visitors, stated Minister González Villarrué, who recalled that last year sales were about a million dollars.

Minister González Villarrué particularly appreciated that the Panama Tourism Authority (ATP) has added FN to the Panama Visit Calendar, as this is a tool that enables more sales of products to be achieved.

Villarrué expects that this year's economic and visitation figures that have been about 49 thousand people will be exceeded and revealed that among the attractions there will be interactions so that assistants can connect with the artisans while they are undergoing production of the crafts, especially the construction of a House of Quincha.

Also, this year there will be two challenges unlike last year when there was only one and where sets of typical music and national folkloric groupings will be presented.

It should be noted that MiCultura put forward the "Postulated Artisan" drawing that gives a physical space at the 2024 National Crafts Fair, to each of the winning Artisan Teachers in 11 categories.

The winners were Dolores Cordero de Veraguas at Alfarería and Cerámica, Heriberto Martínez de Chiriquí in Plastic Arts and Ricardo Tejada from Panama Centro and María Mendoza Valdés de Coclé at Fibras at General.

They were also chosen in public drawing and in presence of witnesses, Gloria de Hernandez de Coclé, at Jewelry and Beer's office and Edwin De Bouteaud Vega de Chiriquí, at carved wood and David Arturo Dickson from Panama Centro, at Manualities.

Other winners were Joscar de Gracia de Colón, at Mácaras, César Guerra Vilches de Panama Centro, at Furniture, Ricardo Moreno de Panama Oeste at Tallado at General and Yeimy Zarzavilla from Panama Oeste at Textiles.

The press event was also attended by National Director of Crafts Esther Pérez, ATP Administrator Denisse Guillén, General Manager of Ampyme, Oscar Ramos, General Manager of Bank Delta, Manuel Álvarez and General Director of SERTV, Catherine Sanmartin.