The story
Festival del Cafe en Santa Barbara in Santa Barbara
Established in 2015 and later declared National Heritage of Honduras, Santa Barbara's coffee festival pairs an international trade component, the Oro Santa Barbara competition judged by roughly two dozen tasters from eleven countries, with a department-wide expo-fair where all 28 municipalities present floats and Coffee Queen candidates. The department's roughly 16,000 growers produce about ten percent of Honduras's national coffee output.
Santa Barbara's coffee festival, established in 2015, has grown into what Congress has formally recognized as National Heritage of Honduras, an official designation that sets it apart from the many smaller, undesignated coffee festivals held elsewhere in the country's western highlands.