7th PANCYPRIAN POTATO FESTIVAL

Our volunteers on 27th of July took part in the 7th Potatoes Festival in Avgorou, a 4.000 souls small cypriot village located between Larnaca and Ayia Napa. The first impression we had about the village was chilling and relaxing, aligned with the image of the traditional cypriot villages.

A lot of cafeterias with old men drinking and playing backgammon and, especially, staring at you while passing by; old conventional stone houses and countryside roads where you can walk for hours without getting anywhere specific. Accustomed as we are to the city pace and rhythm, this place was a sweet discovery to us. When we arrived in Avgorou, the local community was in turmoil for the festival preparation, there were women responsible for peeling, cutting and frying the potatoes, guys in charge of setting up the stands and the stage for the bands and singers. The involvment of the locals was massive and seeing how caring these people were about the success of the event, was magic. Imagine to find yourself in a remote place, where the life proceeds at an obvious pace and the wordliness seems to be unknown…and suddenly a celebration changes, for a few days, this course…people get together to host an event that will welcome people from all over the country (and not only) and that will give prestige to their village, the rhythms accelerate and everyone gets out there and gets to work for a common aim.

The festival was set in the Avgorou Community Stadium and welcomed almost 5.000 people.

Avgorou, along with other cypriot villages located in Famagusta district, is part of the so-called Kokkinochoria (red villages), a series of pictoresque villages that take their name from the red color of their rich soil. Kokkinohoria consists of the following villages: Avgorou, Ormidia, DasakiAchnas, Xylofagou, Frenaros, Sotiras,Paralimni, Vrysoulles, Liopetri, Deryneia, Ayia Napa, Protaras.

All over these village you can witness an intense potato cultivation and all the potatoes cunsumed during the festival came from these villages.

Cyprus exports its potatoes coming from this area all over the world.

The 7th Pancyprian Potato Festival presented alternative and traditional recipes with a potato base, all while traditional live music was being played.

The entrance fee was 5€ and it included a plate with potatoes (fried or jacket potatoes), smashed potatoes and sweet potatoes cookies.

The artists were from Greece and they entertained the audience with famous greek songs.

We had a lot of fun, we tried new recipes, we enjoyed the company of cypriot people and we danced and sang until late at night.

See you next year!