Origins
Santa Elena is not a flower town for tourists. It is a corregimiento of Medellín where people still grow flowers to sell on Sundays. Heading up the road to Guarne, about 20 minutes by car from the downtown, the air changes: the green becomes dense and white plastic greenhouses begin to appear among houses of tapia and tile. That is where most of the silletero families live, the ones who every August come down to the city with silletas loaded with chrysanthemums, hydrangeas, astromelias and pompons.
The craft goes back a long way. Before the Feria de las Flores existed, the farmers of Santa Elena were already going up to Medellín with agricultural products on wooden silletas —a structure of crossed sticks carried on the back— because there were no roads for trucks. That silleta was a work tool, not an ornament. Over time, families began to decorate them with the flowers they grew and to compete for the prettiest one. The Feria de las Flores, which was born in 1957, turned that everyday gesture into a parade and into heritage.
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Today the corregimiento still supplies a good part of the flowers sold in Medellín, although the business has changed: many crops compete with imported flowers and with the real estate pressure of subdivisions creeping up from the city. And there is an image that says it all: a veteran silletero recalled that as a child he carried sacks of potatoes along trails for hours and that today he sees his grandchildren carrying the same silleta, but full of flowers and over short stretches. The tool is the same; the landscape around it, #
Timeline or historical milestones
The silleta as a load-bearing tool
The original silleta was a wooden frame with two side arms and a flat base, tied with cabuya. It was used to carry sacks of potatoes, corn or flowers from the veredas of Santa Elena to the Medellín market. It weighed several kilos empty and much more when loaded. The oldest silleteros still remember walks of hours along trails before motorized transport arrived. That memory is what is reenacted every year in the parade, although today the silleta is carried over short stretches and with light flowers.
1957: the first Feria de las Flores
The Feria de las Flores was created in 1957 as a civic celebration to reactivate the local economy and pay tribute to the silletero tradition. Since then the silletero parade has been the central event. It is not a parade of floats: it is a procession of families who walk with the silleta on their backs along Avenida del Río and other streets, and who are organized by categories according to the size and elaboration of the silleta.
The parade becomes heritage
Over the years, the silletero parade became established as one of the most recognized heritage events in Colombia and the silletero tradition was declared cultural heritage of the Nation. That does not mean the craft is guaranteed: the declaration protects the manifestation, but it does not solve generational succession or the price of land in Santa Elena.
Urban expansion and the shift in crops
In recent decades, Santa Elena went from being an agricultural pantry to a corregimiento with subdivisions, weekend restaurants and tourism. Some families sold part of their land; others diversified with cut flowers, ornamental plants and tourism experiences. Flower growing is still alive, but it is no longer the only economic income for most households.
Key figures or events
The silletero families of Santa Elena
There is no single name that represents the craft: there are surnames that repeat across the veredas and on the parade lists. The silletero families are the ones who keep the practical knowledge alive: which flower can bear the weight, how to build the base so it does not collapse, how many hours of work a large silleta requires. That knowledge is passed on in the home workshop, almost always in the patio or in an adapted room, and not in a formal school. If you visit a farm, ask who assembled the silleta you are looking at: the answer is usually a grandmother, an aunt or a teenage son. And there is the scene that repeats in many homes: the grandmother selecting the flower, the aunt cutting the wood, the teenager learning to tie the cabuya without anyone giving him a class. The craft passes from hand to hand, almost without anyone noticing.
The silleta workshops
In Santa Elena there are family workshops where silletas are assembled for the parade and for commissions. They are not museum spaces: they are work patios with wood, wire, cabuya and piled-up flowers. Some open to the public during the Feria de las Flores season and others receive visits by appointment. The basic rule is to ask before entering and not to photograph people without permission. The workshop is the unit where family hierarchy is decided: who cuts the wood, who selects the flower, who carries the silleta on the day of the parade.
The Feria de las Flores as a collective event
The silletero parade is not organized by a single family: it is a huge operation by the Mayor's Office of Medellín and the silletero associations, with registrations, categories and judges. The categories range from the children's silleta to the monumental silleta, and the jury evaluates elaboration, variety of flowers and tradition. For the silleteros, winning is not only prestige: it is visibility to sell flowers and commissions for the rest of the year.
Current situation
Santa Elena
Santa Elena is a corregimiento of Medellín located to the east, on the road that climbs toward Guarne. You can get there by private car, by bus from downtown and by ride-hailing transport. The landscape mixes greenhouses, recreational farms, roadside restaurants and new houses. On weekends there is traffic and the farms open to the public usually charge an entrance fee or a minimum consumption. The best time to see the silleta work is July and August, before and during the Feria de las Flores; the rest of the year the rhythm is growing and selling flowers.
Farms and workshops open to the public
Several farms in Santa Elena offer tours of flower crops, silleta assembly workshops and direct sales. Not all have fixed hours: many attend by prior reservation, especially on weekdays. Reference prices for October 2026 usually range from a low entrance fee to a medium one, depending on whether a guided tour and workshop are included; always confirm by WhatsApp before heading up. If you go during Feria season, book weeks in advance because spots sell out.
The Feria de las Flores
The Feria de las Flores is traditionally held in August, with the silletero parade as the closing event. In 2026 the exact dates and route should be verified on the official channels of the Mayor's Office of Medellín, because the route and schedules change according to each year's logistics. If your plan is to see the parade, arrive early, use public transport and avoid standing in the silleta loading zones: the silleteros need space to walk and rest.
The new generations
Generational succession is the most delicate issue. Many young people from Santa Elena study in Medellín, work in tourism or are employed in the city and no longer grow flowers. Others keep the crop as complementary income and take part in the parade out of family tradition. The result is a craft that is still alive but concentrated in fewer families and with more pressure to diversify: workshops, plant sales, tourist tours and flowers for events. When you buy directly from the grower, you are sustaining that chain.
How to visit Santa Elena respectfully
Head up with time to spare, preferably on a weekday to avoid traffic jams. Ask at the farm or workshop if you can come in, if you can take photos and if there is a bathroom available. Buy flowers directly from the grower: it is the most direct way to support the craft. Do not touch assembled silletas without permission and do not ask the silleteros to pose with the silleta loaded if they are not in the parade. If you go by bus, check the return schedules because after a certain hour the frequency drops. And if you are interested in the whole process, ask about the workshop before you go in to take photos: that is where the real story is, not in the photo of the finished silleta.
