Some say that spring comes to Asturias when the apple trees blossom; others, more knowledgeable, know that The true unequivocal sign of the change of season is the First Flower Fair In the very noble town of Grado, or Grau to the natives, they don't give an inch to Castilian when it comes to naming their own. And they're right.
This town, Founded in the 13th century under the auspices of Alfonso X the Wise, has managed to preserve its medieval essence while advancing firmly towards modernity. Grao, settled between the warm breath of the Nalón and the reverberations of an old - but not stale - history, is a town that combines the ancestry of its stone with the lushness of its greenery. In other words, it is as much noble as it is orchard. And this charming ambiguity is what is celebrated, with all the honors, in its First Flower Fair.
In the First Flower local products are displayed and marketed —jams and juices, sausages, cheeses, honey, organic flours, bakery products, and especially highlighting the Asturian faba with Protected Geographical Indication (PGI)—. This event, which starts at the beginning of April like someone waking up from a winter nap, It is much more than a market: it is an exaltation of Moscón pride. Because that's what the inhabitants of Grado are called, moscones, as if the name came from the persistent and cheerful buzz with which they defend themselves from modern boredom.
First Flower Agenda
First Flower of Grao 2025
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What to see in Grao
Grao is not just a town, it is a square with history, a church with resonance and a market with echoes. Its old town, declared a Site of Cultural Interest, as well laid out as a domino table on a rainy Sunday afternoon, It preserves the medieval layout without losing its modern composure.The houses, with their flower-filled corridors, look at the visitor with that mixture of distrust and curiosity that characterizes good hosts.
Presiding over the scene, General Ponte Square. It hosts the weekly market, a tradition dating back to the Middle Ages and which takes on special significance during the First Flower Fair. During the fair it becomes a mosaic of colors and aromas: beans of the finest variety, cabbages that look like they were carved by a stonemason, and cheeses that compete in aroma with the finest perfumes.
Not far from there, the Miranda-Valdecarzana Palace —which seems straight out of a nineteenth-century novel featuring a widowed count and a wayward maiden—today houses the Cultural Center. There, amidst various activities, the learned spirit of the town takes refuge, because in Grao there are more heads than hats, although it may not seem so on fair day.
Very close is the Chapel of Sorrows, built in the 18th century, whose ashlar stone façade and main altarpiece dedicated to the Virgin of Sorrows make it a benchmark of Asturian Baroque.
During the First Flower Fair, These buildings not only serve as a backdrop, but are actively integrated into the celebrations..
Some people believe that the First Flower Fair owes its name to the first flowers in the countryside. False. Or at least, not entirely true. Because what truly flourishes here are the acquaintances, the reunions, the loud greetings, and the news that doesn't make it into the newspaper but spreads like wildfire among the stalls: who returned to the village, who left without saying goodbye, and who, in a burst of spring, has fallen in love again. Not always in that order.
And the fair, more than an agricultural celebration, It is a manifestation of Asturian rural life in its most festive, loosest and, why not say it, most flirtatious version.There are bagpipe players, there are bagpipers, and there are those who put on their good shirts just to be seen. No one admits it, but everyone does it.
Photos: © Grao Tourist Office.
Text: © Ramón Molleda for asturias.com
