Izmir's Urla district will host the 5th Artichoke Festival this week. The festival starts on April 26th and welcomes international visitors for three days.
Artichoke producers, farmers and local traders are now getting ready for this vibrant festival. Urla will present everything to do with artichokes along with food and art workshops, tasting events, talks and concerts. Entrepreneurs who have been looking forward to this festival for months, will offer visitors artichoke jam, artichoke dishes, gifts with artichoke themes and textiles.
The Artichoke Festival, having recently acquired an international identity, will continue welcoming international as well as local chefs.
Thanks to this festival, artichoke production in the town reached 35 million pieces per year and the producers' income has increased by 275% over the last five years.
Sibel Uyar, the Mayor of Urla, said that the producers are looking forward to the Artichoke Festival. Emphasizing that the municipality is focused on a local development model, Uyar said: "We would like that our farmers and traders are satisfied. We wouldn't like that farmers sell their land. We are not organizing the artichoke festivals just to have fun, this is our 5th Artichoke Festival and it is a very important festival for the local economy. This also allowed us to embark upon the area of gastro-tourism."