Cactus Fiesta Fair 2017
The Cactus & Succulent Society of the Philippines Inc. (CSSPI) organized a three-day Cactus Fiesta Fair at the Flower Garden in Quezon Memorial Circle from May 5 to 7, 2017. I was lucky enough to attend on the third day, a few hours before the event was concluded.
There's no entrance fee, Visitors were welcome to view and buy from the many booths of accredited sellers set up at the venue, and to listen to the lectures conducted during the event. When I was there, one booth owner was teaching some event goers basic grafting techniques and tricks.
There were about 15 to 20 booths set up, selling a variety of common and rare cacti and succulents. Some were selling flowers and plants, a few sold soil and pots, and one was a dedicated seller of gardening tools and supplies.
I was able to see a lot of interesting cacti and succulents, including some beautiful rare ones that I've only seen in pictures before that event.
The price range of their products was very wide: common small succulents were sold as cheap as 3 for 100 pesos, medium-sized cacti and succulents went from 100 to 500 pesos, small rare ones were sold from 500 to about 1000, while the large common succulents and medium-sized rares was priced between 1000 to 3000. The largest cacti and very rare ones were being sold for as high as 5000 pesos.
I bought for myself a small golden barrel cactus (Echinocactus grusonii), something I've been wanting to have for a while. I bought it for 800 pesos since it was only the size of a tennis ball. Bigger ones were being sold for 1300 to 2000 pesos.
I also bought a few common succulents and a lot of black square pots (12 pesos each). I've been wanting
to use square pots for some time now because I think they'll look great lined up against each other. I was also luckily picked in the event's daily raffle and I won two cute yellow round plastic pots.
All in all, visiting the Cactus Fiesta Fair was definitely worth it. I believe this is an annual event of CSSPI. Hopefully next year, I get to visit on the first day to see all the available cacti and succulents before they're bought out, and hopefully I get to attend the lectures and meet fellow cactus and succulent enthusiasts.
