Cuenca independence celebration kicks off today, will feature 24 crafts and food fairs

Over the next five days Cuenca will host 24 crafts, art and food fairs as part of the city’s independence festivities. In addition, the Historic and Patrimonial Areas Office says there will hundreds of concerts, dances, parades, and fireworks shows.

Holiday festivities begin today.

Several new fairs have been added since Monday, according to festivities organizers, including ones in Pasaje León on San Francisco Plaza, the Museum of Modern Art on San Sebastian Plaza, Santa Ana Square, and CEMUART.

The patrimonial areas office says that many of fairs will open today although the official holidays do not begin until Thursday.

The largest fair is at CIDAP (Inter-American Folk Arts and Crafts Association) on Tres de Noviembre at the Escalinatas, which will fill the CIDAP courtyard and cover the banks of the Tomebamba River from the base of Calle Hermano Miguel to the bridge at Calle Benigno Malo. The event includes artists from a dozen Latin American countries, in addition to Ecuador.

Another large fair will be at the Regional Portal of Handicrafts of Cuenca, or PRAC, at the corner of Simon Bolivar and Av. Huayna Capac. PRAC opened earlier this year.

In addition to CIDAP, PRAC, and the new fairs, others will at the Broken Bridge on Paseo Tres de Noviembre, in Plazoleta de La Merced, the Plazoleta de Las Monjas, and Otorongo Plaza.

Dozens of small sales and exhibit booths will be set up on historic district streets, which will be turned into pedestrian malls for the holidays.

Officials expect more than 100,000 tourists to visit Cuenca from today through Sunday, November 5.

For details of all holiday events and maps, click here.