A celebration of traditional handicrafts and volunteerism is rapidly becoming an annual event

The ‘Go Troodos’ festival of traditional flavours and handicrafts, which was held in the gardens of the presidential residence in Troodos last Sunday, is on the way to establishing itself as an annual fixture, said the First Lady Philippa Karsera Christodoulides.

This was the second year of the festival, ‘Go Troodos 2’, that is organised on the personal initiative of Karsera Christodoulides and aims at promoting small Cypriot enterprises making traditional products. President Christodoulides was also present.

Karsera Christodoulides said she was very happy that in the festival’s second year there was “a really great response” from the people.

“What pleases me most is the response of all the people, the small enterprises, residents of rural areas, the producers who come and participate,” she said.

“We went for a walk and talked to the producers and small businessmen and they are very happy themselves. They feel, as we do, that this is a way to showcase their businesses.”

A sign of the success was that more people had come to support the producers and the market stalls, she said. This year there had been an emphasis on promoting traditional skills that were dying out such as the making of the traditional ‘tsaera’ (chair), the ‘vourka’ (satchel made of animal hide) and the ‘pithkiavli’ (a local instrument similar to recorder) among other things.

The festival, which was supported by the Office of the Commissioner of for the Development of Mountain Communities, the Deputy Ministry for Tourism and the Press and Information Office, served many purposes, said the First Lady.

“It also opens the iconic summer residence situated in a wonderful area in Troodos,” she said. “People have the opportunity to walk around, to enjoy this wonderful natural environment, to shop, while children have the opportunity to engage in a lot of enjoyable activities, far away from screens, and be creative.”

Deputy Minister of Tourism Costas Koumis said the event fell within the ministry’s strategy of promoting the Troodos region as well as traditional crafts and delicacies.

“It is with great pleasure that we see thousands of our compatriots flocking here at the presidential residence, in this very special building with a very special history, in order to get to know again Cypriot flavours and Cypriot traditions,” said Koumis.

Director of the Press and Information Office (PIO), Aliki Stylianou highlighted the broader significance of promoting small businesses and producers of the mountains as well as the special wealth of the Troodos region.

“Visitors can gather new information and experiences about local producers in order to promote them, so as to help generate the funds for them to continue their work, while at the same time encouraging young people to stay in this work and in the mountain areas,” said Stylianou.

A similar line was taken by the Commissioner for the Development of Mountain Communities, Charalambos Christofinas, who thanked the First Lady for this successful event that was constantly expanding and enriched with new activities.

“Certainly, what we always pay attention to is that people of rural areas are encouraged to stay where their roots are, by these policies,” said Christofinas. “That is the most important thing and this festival, and similar festivals, are geared towards this.”

Apart from this initiative, the First Lady was also commended for her long-standing support to social programmes, by the president of the Pelendri Community Volunteerism Council and the Ikaros Programme, Chrysis Spyrou.

 “I would like to congratulate the First Lady for today’s initiative to organise this beautiful event and at the same time I would like to thank her especially for the decision she made to support the Ikaros Programme,” he said.

“It is very important that every year in all our actions, whether it is here in this place or in the presidential palace, we want there to be a social purpose, a social goal. Last year we assisted the Cyprus Community Volunteer Council. This year we are helping the Pelendri Community Volunteerism Council that ‘runs’ the Ikaros programme for people with learning difficulties,” Karsera Christodoulides said.

“This was a day centre that did a great job in Pelendri, so we are enriching our activities with these elements as well,” she added. Although based in Pelendri, Ikaros serves many rural villages.

The head of the Pelendri community, Kypros Kyprianou, thanked the First Lady and the organisers of the event for their support for rural communities, stressing the importance of the Ikaros project.

“The work of volunteerism is very important. It needs a lot of support from all over the world. Especially Ikaros which is a project that gave a voice to children who were confined to their homes. In this way they have been socialised, they can be happy, they can dance, they can do things that nobody could imagine.”

The message from Karsera Christodoulides was that ‘Go Troodos’ would grow and flourish. “There are so many beautiful things that can be done, and we want to develop it year by year, so that there is something of substance left behind,” she said.

“We want to create something substantial to help people in the countryside.”