Today, the smell of roasted chestnuts spread through Konjic. A large number of citizens gathered on the plateau of the City Market to enjoy tasting roasted chestnuts and desserts made from these fruits.
All this happened within the framework of the 7th “Chestnut Festival” (locally called Kestenijada) organized by the Association SIN Neretvica, and under the auspices of the City of Konjic, which this year, due to floods, was held in Konjic instead of Seonica.
The Chestnut Festival, which is held as part of the “Days of Neretvica” event, had a humanitarian character and all the money from the sale of raw and roasted chestnuts, chestnut sweets, as well as art works of students as part of the SIN Neretvica competition, will be directed to help the population from flooded areas in Neretvica.
The event was opened by Orhan Tucović, the chief of the Mayor’s office – Osman Ćatić, who expressed condolences to the families, relatives, and friends of those who died in the natural disaster.
“Last year, we enjoyed great organization, the beautiful scent of chestnuts, and shared many wonderful stories in our beautiful Seonica. Unfortunately, that is not the case today. We in the City Administration are dedicated 24 hours a day to the Neretvica Valley. We must keep moving forward and try to restore life to the valley, at least somewhat, as it once was,” said Tucović, expressing his hope that the next Chestnut Festival will be held in Seonica
The president of the Association SIN “Neretvica” Salih Mustafić thanked the City of Konjic and the mayor, who met them and made it possible for the Chestnut Festival to take place in Konjic.
”SIN Neretvica Association has been working on the promotion of our region, preservation of natural resources and cultural heritage since its foundation. This year we are continuing that mission, but with an additional focus on humanitarian aid, and your contribution, either through buying chestnuts or attending, is of great importance for our efforts”, Mustafić told the audience, who was the most successful primary and secondary school students in the art competition on the topic ” Tame Chestnut” presented the awards.
Today, the citizens of Konjic, as well as Sarajevo, Visoko and other cities, supported this humane action in Konjic.
Elizabeta from Sarajevo came with her company from Sarajevo with the clear goal of helping the residents of the flooded area, but also to enjoy eating chestnuts.
“I’m on Kestenijada for the first time, I love chestnuts, one of our company came to buy chestnuts and help the residents in the flooded areas,” Elizabeta said
Salem Delić from Konjic today also enjoyed the Chestnut Festival.
“I’m glad that this was organized, I enjoy chestnuts, which are native to us, autochthonous. These chestnuts are from the regions where our people died and we need to help,” said Delić, who was at Chestnut Festival with his sister.
Osman Ćatić, the Mayor of the Konjic, attended the Chestnut Festival and said it’s full of emotions and it evoked memories of the recent unfortunate events in the Neretvica Valley as well as how it used to be celebrated.
“I express my gratitude to everyone present here, who set aside their time and money to help the people of Neretvica, and I congratulate the association SIN Neretvica for continuing to organize the Chestnut Festival under these conditions,” Mayor Ćatić stated.
Refik Boloban, the coordinator of this event, said that a ton of chestnuts were provided for this year’s Chestnut Festival.
“We provided 700 kilos for baking and 300 kilos in fresh condition for sale exclusively from agricultural producers from the Neretvica Valley who experienced a natural disaster. The association SIN Neretvica bought the chestnut from them, we are selling it and donating all the proceeds to humanitarian purposes,” Boloban said.
Great interest was also caused by Husein Ičanović from Bužim, who invented a machine that roasts and peels chestnuts.
“I have been building an automatic chestnut roaster for ten years. People are delighted, there are chestnuts, they are of good quality, the hosts are wonderful and we are here in these difficult times to show them our solidarity, to recover from the disaster as soon as possible”, said Ičanović, stating that the roaster can roast up to 60 kg of chestnuts in an hour.
The organizer decided that instead of today’s announced auction of artworks of students from the competition, on Monday, 04.11. In 2024, on the Facebook page of the SIN Neretvica Association, it is organizing an auction where five student works will be exhibited.
