By Nanette Guadalquiver
BACOLOD CITY – The Negros Trade Fair, the country’s longest-running provincial trade fair in Metro Manila, turns 40 and showcases the “best of Negros” anew at SMX Convention Center Aura in Taguig City on Sept. 22 to 27.
With a record number of 178 exhibitors, this year’s edition is themed “Butlak,” which means “to bloom” or “to daybreak.”
The event, organized by the Association of Negros Producers, offers the finest furniture, food, fashion and crafts from artisans and producers in Negros Island Region, including Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Siquijor and Bacolod City.
The exhibitors are categorized into food, natural and organic, fashion, furniture, gifts, decors and houseware, tourism and local government units.
In his message during the “Arima,” or the official opening, Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said what started with a few producers and few products has grown into a tradition that has lasted for 40 years.
“The Negros Trade Fair continued because the people behind it believe that our products, our skills and creativity deserve a place in the market,” he added. “Our products have become more varied, our entrepreneurs have found new ways to create and do business, our producers have reached markets beyond Negros.”
Lacson said sugar remains an important part of the province and its history, but the Negros Trade Fair has shown that there is so much more that its people can produce.
Negros Trade Fair chairperson Mary Ann Colmenares said “Butlak” is more than a trade fair; it is a story of courage, creativity and the enduring spirit of Negros.
She said the Negros Trade Fair cuts across all ages, with a 97-year-old exhibitor from Dumaguete City joining this year’s edition as well as those as young as 21.
“Let us make ‘Butlak’ not just a celebration of 40 years but a powerful commitment to ensure that the creativity, the dreams and hard work of the next generation of Negrense creatives have the opportunity to flourish. Because “Sa Negros, may tubo man gihapon kag mas madamo pa gid (In Negros, there is still sugarcane and so much more),” Colmenares said. (PNA)
