A visit to the historic center of Zapopan should definitely be in the cards over the next month, with the principal aim of viewing a section of the amazing woven canopy created by women in the Jalisco town of Etzatlan.
The canopy, which in its entirety measures nearly 3,000 square meters, was put forward for a Guinness World Record. So impressed were the Guinness company that they created a special category for crocheted overhead canopies, and rubber-stamped the achievement in October 2019.
Around 200 women participated in the creation of the canopy, which began as a small project dreamed up by veterinarian Lorena Ron and her 90-year-old mother Paloma. It took the women nearly 25,000 hours to turn 825 kilograms of raffia into more than 8,000 hexagons.
Ron said she got the idea from seeing a canopy of colorful umbrellas hanging above the tourist walkways in Tlaquepaque.
The canopy has been installed on the Andador 20 de Noviembre pedestrian precinct that runs between the Zapopan Arches and the Plaza de las Americas.
Cristopher de Alba Anguiano, Zapopan’s director of culture, said the exhibition is part of the Zapopan Invita initiative, which showcases cultural offerings from other regions of Jalisco in the Guadalajara metro-area municipality.
Ron, who was present at the inauguration of the display earlier this week, was delighted at the welcome given to the women of Ezatlan by Zapopan authorities: “We bring this little piece of heaven of almost 1,000 square meters to the beautiful city of Zapopan … to visit La Generala [the revered Virgin of Zapopan statuette],” she said
The display will remain up until August 15.