The Foundation for Ethnography and the Development of Canarian Crafts (FEDAC) has formalized the regulatory guidelines for selecting the operators who will participate in the nineteenth edition of the Gran Canaria Craft Fair, Verano Sur (Southern Summer). This event, which is becoming a key driver of supplementary spending within the tourism sector of the island's south, will be held from Friday, August 7th to Sunday, August 16th, 2026. The event will occupy a strategic location in the gardens near the Maspalomas Lighthouse, a site that the Gran Canaria Island Council uses to attract capital flows and encourage spending by international tourists staying overnight in the San Bartolomé de Tirajana tourist area.
The competitive bidding process establishes a restrictive administrative framework to safeguard the authenticity and value of local products against commercial resale. The registration period will be limited to seven calendar days, beginning the day after the call for applications is published on the organization's official platform. Interested artisans should submit their applications preferably through the institution's online portal. A complete document audit is required, including proof of registration for the Economic Activities Tax (IAE), an up-to-date employment history certificate, and a high-resolution photographic dossier of the products intended for sale.
The event's regulatory framework introduces a fixed participation fee of €100, which will be irrevocably activated once the technical staff approves the applicant's inclusion on the provisional lists. The technical evaluation criteria will prioritize excellence and the diversification of traditional crafts such as ceramics, jewelry, woodworking, metalwork, leatherwork, textiles, and glasswork, combining heritage with contemporary design. The allocation of exhibition spaces will be the responsibility of the organizing entity, supported by prior industry surveys that validate the corporate distribution of modules over a random draw system, thus ensuring a consistent aesthetic throughout the fairgrounds.
The governance of the fairgrounds during the ten days of the exhibition, whose operating hours will run continuously from 17:00 p.m. to 23:00 p.m., will be coordinated by a Monitoring Committee comprised of highly qualified technical experts. This oversight body, made up of specialists in ethnographic collections and maps, will have executive powers to conduct inspections of the stalls and immediately remove any merchandise that violates the principle of originality or does not conform to the Register of Artisan Trades of the Canary Islands. Infringements of the Retail Trade Law or failure to display retail prices in visible locations will result in immediate expulsion from the fairgrounds and disqualification from future public events organized by the Island Council.
The terms of the call for tenders clearly define the risks and contractual responsibilities of the participants, exempting the administration from any liability arising from theft, robbery, or damage to stored inventory, despite the contracting of a permanent external security service. Each successful bidder will be personally responsible for the control of their booth during opening hours, and the carrying out of commercial promotions, sales, raffles, or the use of advertising material unrelated to their own accredited production is prohibited. The text explicitly prohibits the consumption of alcohol and tobacco within the booths and includes operational recommendations aimed at restricting access with pets to optimize movement and avoid security conflicts with visitors.
The FEDAC Presidency retains the exclusive prerogative to interpret the technical conditions of these rules, reserving the right to modify the locations, schedules, or suspend the market for justified reasons of force majeure. The processing of participant information will comply with the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), requiring selected participants to submit an audit of their net sales volume within five business days of the event's conclusion. This statistical indicator is vital for the Cabildo's economic analysts to assess the real impact of crafts on Maspalomas' tourism GDP and to gauge the financial return on public investments in the island's southern trade fair infrastructure.
