By Steven Roberts…….
The normally quiet village of Buyukkonuk (or to use its original Arabic name
– Kobi Kebir) attracted thousands of people to its ‘Eco Day’ on Sunday 9th October 2016.
The village’s main street was turned into a large market place with what seemed like hundreds of stalls offering a range of local produce mostly freshly prepared for the day. As you moved along the street you could see and smell kebabs, borek, fruits, bread etc. there were also several stalls with local craft products like woven goods, embroidered pictures, jewellery, and items carved and created with wood. Locally produced lemonade was also on sale, as were stronger drinks like wine and Zivaniya made with Cyprus grapes. (We bought all of these and can vouch for how good they taste!).
You could also see traditional crafts like basket and wooden chair weaving. The olive press was also open, and also attracted a lot of visitors.
The main square was host to entertainment all day long, mostly featuring local musicians and dance performers.
There was some irony in the fact that over 80% of the visitors seemed to arrive by car, but the parking was well marshalled by the Belediye and police, and there seemed to be constant flow of visitors coming and going.
The first Eco Day was held back in 1999, and the event seems to be going from strength to strength.
The next one will probably be in the Spring of 2017, so make a note of the date when it’s announced and go and see for yourself.
This was such a great event and I believe, the biggest in the TRNC. My only gripe, and it’s a big one, were the live animals at one end of the market. Four dogs that looked like they had been collected of the street to sell on the day ( just my thoughts). Various othe animals with no shelter and the most beautiful tiny donkey tied on a short rope which was being poked in the face by a couple of little boys while the ‘owner’ and the parents watched. Get rid of that and it would have been perfect.
Thanks for writing up about our festival. Only a point or two, the first festival started in 2007, October. We hold two a year, May and October (except for this year we missed May because of a bomb scare in Turkey, which really didn’t affect Cyrus at all!).
Also, your comment about 80% coming by car….It is most unfortunate that all island-wide (in north) bus services do not offer any Sunday bus travel. However, for the first time this year the municipalities of the major towns put buses on to give people who do not own a car to come to the Eco-Day festival. Next festival should be held on the first Sunday in May.We do have smaller events over the winter, like Donkey Day on the first Sunday of the school holidays in February and there is always the Sunday Markets near the Association building. We have a great traditional restaurant and you can even bake your own bread at Delcraft, at the email below. Our website is getting renewed and should be up and running again soon.
Thanks Lois sorry about the error on the date of the first festival – I look forward to the May 2017 Eco Day.
Are there any outlets where you can buy some of the products sold on stalls all year round?
Hi Steve, spent time inKoml Kibir police station doin.g my N/S in Cyprus.We had Camp in Dhavlos.Iwas in the Welch Regiment 1958 .A platoon of us would stay in the police station for about 3 weeks on and three off,keeping the peace between the Greek and Turkish people.I am coming over the end of next week staying in Kyrenia will be visting Komi Kibir,Xeros,lefka and Kantara all the places I stayed at ( happy days and it never cost me a penny ) lol.Hope the sun will be shining from the 21jst
Kind regards
Brian