Date
04-04-2006
The history
Imagined and conceived by Cheikh Maurice Gemayel and Michel Touma in 1934, the flower's festival aimed at creating an artistic, cultural and tourism event which would distinguish Bickfaya from the rest of the villages.
Scheduled for the first week of every September, and placed under the patronage of the President of the Republic and the Minister of Tourism, this demonstration quickly knew a very big success, exceeding the village’s borders to become an annual national gathering welcoming thousands of visitors coming from all over the world.
1953: A success beyond borders
Having for theme: “the titles of nobility”, the year 1953 marks a twist in the history of this festival, raising it to the international level: a char decorated with more than 500.000 flowers having the shape of a marchioness in a bridal dress won the first prize and made the cover of a large-circulation magazine of the city of Nice, France.
This was worth a constant support of the ministry of tourism, which assigned as an example, in 1972, a 20.000 Lebanese Lira budget. The last edition of the flower's festival took place in 1974 because of the Lebanese war.
The program
The program included initially a series of activities which extended over a week, to end on Sunday with the procession of the floral floats, according to a very precise calendar:
From Monday to Wednesday:
A show of flowers and diverse fruits grouped farmers and florists came from the neighboring villages, in particular Beit Chabab and Baskinta. In parallel, other activities took place, among whom which: a race from Delb to the square of Bickfaya, sports tournaments in various stadiums, a bicycles race on a path crossing the village as well as a race of donkeys at the "Séha".
From Thursday to Saturday:
A celebration in the municipal garden became the assembly point of persons of any age coming to participate or to attend diverse games and shows.
On Saturday night:
Dancing ball followed by the election of 3 "Queens": queen of flowers, Miss Sports and miss fruits.
On Sunday:
The procession of floral floats began from 3:00 pm, and the decorated chars (between 12 and 20, according to years) passed by accompanied by the sound of a brass band from the entrance of the village to Delb under the glance and the applause of an amazed crowd. Only the reserved stands were paying.
The preparations
On the level of the organization’s comity This full-time job, which lasted several months because of the multiple tasks and projects to be led in parallel, was managed by a committee grouping various personalities of the village. The main tasks of the committee were the following ones:
Choose the theme of the year according to which all the participating chars must be decorated. We remember, among those kept in mind, the conquest of the space, the signs of the Zodiac; the fables from the Fountain, the counts of brothers Grimm, the big lovers of the century...
Recruit a team of 500 volunteers (young boys and girls) to help the organizers during the festivities.
Organize the forums and provide places for the officials and the notables of the region
Decide on the prizes to be offered to the three most beautiful floral floats: 900 Lebanese pounds to be distributed as follow: 500 LL for the first one, 300 LL for the second and 100 LL for the third.
Choose and order more than 3 million flowers (carnation flowers/Oeillets, daisies, dahlias) for the event
On the participants’ level
Testimony of Misses Yvonne Gemayel
The preparations began approximately 2 months before the date of the event with the design and the production of the chars (structure, motorization).
The decoration and the quilting of the flowers were made the night preceding the procession of the floral floats, being afraid that these last ones fade. This represented a big challenge in itself, especially since it was necessary to place between 25.000 and 50.000 flowers by tank!!!
Regarding the budget, a part of the expenses XXX was taken care of by the committee of the flower's festival and the rest financed by private individuals. This evening was an opportunity for friends and relatives to reunite, coming to give a hand.
Imagined and conceived by Cheikh Maurice Gemayel and Michel Touma in 1934, the flower's festival aimed at creating an artistic, cultural and tourism event which would distinguish Bickfaya from the rest of the villages.
Scheduled for the first week of every September, and placed under the patronage of the President of the Republic and the Minister of Tourism, this demonstration quickly knew a very big success, exceeding the village’s borders to become an annual national gathering welcoming thousands of visitors coming from all over the world.
1953: A success beyond borders
Having for theme: “the titles of nobility”, the year 1953 marks a twist in the history of this festival, raising it to the international level: a char decorated with more than 500.000 flowers having the shape of a marchioness in a bridal dress won the first prize and made the cover of a large-circulation magazine of the city of Nice, France.
This was worth a constant support of the ministry of tourism, which assigned as an example, in 1972, a 20.000 Lebanese Lira budget. The last edition of the flower's festival took place in 1974 because of the Lebanese war.
The program
The program included initially a series of activities which extended over a week, to end on Sunday with the procession of the floral floats, according to a very precise calendar:
From Monday to Wednesday:
A show of flowers and diverse fruits grouped farmers and florists came from the neighboring villages, in particular Beit Chabab and Baskinta. In parallel, other activities took place, among whom which: a race from Delb to the square of Bickfaya, sports tournaments in various stadiums, a bicycles race on a path crossing the village as well as a race of donkeys at the "Séha".
From Thursday to Saturday:
A celebration in the municipal garden became the assembly point of persons of any age coming to participate or to attend diverse games and shows.
On Saturday night:
Dancing ball followed by the election of 3 "Queens": queen of flowers, Miss Sports and miss fruits.
On Sunday:
The procession of floral floats began from 3:00 pm, and the decorated chars (between 12 and 20, according to years) passed by accompanied by the sound of a brass band from the entrance of the village to Delb under the glance and the applause of an amazed crowd. Only the reserved stands were paying.
The preparations
On the level of the organization’s comity This full-time job, which lasted several months because of the multiple tasks and projects to be led in parallel, was managed by a committee grouping various personalities of the village. The main tasks of the committee were the following ones:
Choose the theme of the year according to which all the participating chars must be decorated. We remember, among those kept in mind, the conquest of the space, the signs of the Zodiac; the fables from the Fountain, the counts of brothers Grimm, the big lovers of the century...
Recruit a team of 500 volunteers (young boys and girls) to help the organizers during the festivities.
Organize the forums and provide places for the officials and the notables of the region
Decide on the prizes to be offered to the three most beautiful floral floats: 900 Lebanese pounds to be distributed as follow: 500 LL for the first one, 300 LL for the second and 100 LL for the third.
Choose and order more than 3 million flowers (carnation flowers/Oeillets, daisies, dahlias) for the event
On the participants’ level
Testimony of Misses Yvonne Gemayel
The preparations began approximately 2 months before the date of the event with the design and the production of the chars (structure, motorization).
The decoration and the quilting of the flowers were made the night preceding the procession of the floral floats, being afraid that these last ones fade. This represented a big challenge in itself, especially since it was necessary to place between 25.000 and 50.000 flowers by tank!!!
Regarding the budget, a part of the expenses XXX was taken care of by the committee of the flower's festival and the rest financed by private individuals. This evening was an opportunity for friends and relatives to reunite, coming to give a hand.
