2012 Aibonito Flower Festival
Every year, the town of Aibonito hosts the largest plant show & sale on the island. It features flower & plant displays, a large section for plant sales, live local music shows (of course) and food kiosks.
My favorite part is the rows and rows of booths selling all kinds of plants — orchids, fruit trees, vegetable plants, heliconias, gingers, hibiscus … just to name a few. I look forward to this event all year and it is now that time of year again!
In 2012, the Aibonto Flower Festival (Festival de Flores de Aibonito) will be held from June 29 through July 8.
Finding the Festival is not too difficult — just follow the cars! It is a hugely popular event. This is one of the town’s claims to fame — they even have a permanent Flower Festival Area, behind the Colliseo los Polluelos de Aibonito. This is where all the "official" sales booths, entertainment and food kiosks are set up. In addition to that, you will be able to find small vendors set up selling everything from plants to perfume, flowers to food all along the roads leading to the park.
Most people go on the weekends and in the afternoon. So, if you want to avoid the biggest crowds, plan on going mid-week in the morning.
If you are a tourist from the States, just keep in mind, the USDA does conduct mandatory luggage inspection at the airport. So if you plan on buying plants to take back the the States, you might want to review the Predeparture Passenger Baggage Inspection Notice for Travelers from Puerto Rico to the US Mainland (PDF file) regarding what plants you are allowed to take home with you.
Entertainment Schedule
The organizers don’t provide a schedule listing what times each of the live shows will be taking place, but they have provided this list of which performers are supposed to have shows on which days. The shows are generally in the afternoon.
- Friday, June 29
• NG2 - Saturday, June 30
Elvis Crespo - Sunday, July 1
• Trovadores Competition "Pico a Pico"
• Groupo Mania - Wednesday, July 4
• Millie Quezada - Thursday, July 5
• First 1000 Triple-S customers get in free!• Zumba
• Torneo de Domino
• Bingo
• Show de Susa y Epifanio - Friday, July 6
• Zone D’ Tambora - Saturday, July 7
• Mongui y Pescuezo - Sunday, July 8
• Show de Familia Sanabris y su Orquesta
• Tito Nieves
Details
Entrance fee to the festival is $5 per person. $3 for children under 12 years old. Parking is free.
In 2012, the festival starts on June 29 and ends on July 8. The festival is open from 8am to 7pm every day.
Including driving time from San Juan, plan on spending most of a day.
From San Juan, take Route 52 South to exit 39 (it’s the second exit for the town of Cayey). Turn left onto Route 1 south. Follow Route 1, past Route 206, until you get to Route 7722. Turn right onto Route 7722. Follow Route 7722 until you get to Route 722. Turn right onto Route 722. The festival is on 722, on your right at KM 6.7.
The drive from San Juan will take about 1½ hours.
Use this map to locate places mentioned in this article. You can click on a placemark to view the GPS coordinates for that place.
First, I love, love, love, your website. I am repeatedly impressed with the detailed, well organized and clearly presented information. And the quality ! Thank you for the website. I find myself referring to it extensively for updated information as I plan my next visit to La Isla de Encanta! I used to live in Viejo San Juan when I worked for the US NPS and did some island exploring, but never enough — there is so much to see and do year round. Maybe when I retire I’ll have more time… I did make it to the Aibonito Flower Festival when I lived in the island in the late ’90s and it was spectacular. I’ll never forget the experience of driving through the arbors of blooming Flamboyan on the windy two lane highway! Dios Mio! I love Puerto Rico! Anyway, thanks mucho for this incredible website!
Comment by deb on July 2nd, 2012 at 7:04 pm