Since March 15th 50 families of onion producers gather in front of the centennial Catholic Church of Santa Ana.
This centenary tradition congregates parents, children, grandparents and grandchildren in an annual meeting that both producers and buyers look forward to.
About 200 hectares of onions were planted in this valley and its surrounding mountains until 1970. Today, the accelerated urbanization has displaced the plantations and there are only 50 hectares.
Three varieties are sown: white, yellow and purple onions. And also garlic. From the time the seed is planted until it is harvested, four months elapse.
The prices are also really attractive: white and purple onions cost 1,000 colones per kilo and yellow onions cost 700 colones per kilo.
While waiting for customers to fill the exhibition and sale places, the families of onion producers take the time to make onion braids, an art inherited from generation to generation.
The onion of Santa Ana has a particularity: it is drier. A braid can last 100 days and contains no preservatives. The imported onion is said to contain a chemical that prevents outbreaks, but not this one.
Juan Miguel Córdoba enjoys this so much that he sows a quarter of a hectare just to take his produce to the fair. With humor, he remember that the town used to be so small that
one peeled an onion and the whole town cried.”
The Onion Fair is organized by the Cantonal Agricultural Center and the municipality of San José.