The Flower and Plant Festival brought flowered carpets, entertainment and countless visitors to downtown Coimbra

On Saturday, May 17, the Flower and Plant Festival filled the sidewalks of the main streets surrounding Coimbra’s downtown with long carpets of flowers, which led to a large turnout for the event promoted by Coimbra City Council. The initiative extended to Praça do Comércio, where there were around half a hundred stalls offering regional cuisine, run by associations from the municipality and other biodiversity promoters. The day was also filled with musical entertainment and ancestral street preaching.

The Flower and Plant Festival brought close to half a hundred participants to the city center last Saturday, including nurseries, florists, cultural, recreational, social and folkloric and ethnographic associations, who put on another edition of this municipal event, which is attracting more and more visitors. Those who took part in the event had the chance to see floral displays with unique creative details, spread out over various streets linking Praça 8 Maio to the narrow streets of “Baixinha” and Praça do Comércio.

The flower carpets, designed by local communities, are one of the event’s main attractions. These unique creations, which add color and movement to the main streets of Baixa, are the result of work that begins on Friday night and lasts until the early hours of Saturday morning.

The initiative was also marked by various moments of entertainment, with the highlight being the recreation of traditions from the Coimbra region, through an ethnographic parade, which included the preaching of yesteryear used in street sales, or the presence of exhibitors, who filled Praça do Comércio with floral arrangements and different gastronomic proposals from the region.

Throughout the day there were different musical performances by the Ceira Philharmonic Band, the “Sons de Casconha” Concertina Group, the Cavaquinho Group from the Confraria dos Amigos do Negalho and Almalaguês Parish Music School and the Tiroliro Cavaquinho Group from the Apojovi/Aposenior Association.

The Flower and Plant Festival aims to raise public awareness of the importance of plants and their impact on environmental conservation, improving agriculture and sustainable food production. The municipality has once again invested in a traditional urban cultural event that aims to promote nature and biodiversity