A STORY of struggle and triumph by a feisty band of women who refused to be crushed by a devastating sugar crisis that ended the once famous lavish lifestyle for many Negrenses has been waiting to be told.

On Sept. 8, the Association of Negros Producers (ANP) will celebrate the 25th year of its annual trade fair at the Rockwell Tent in Makati City with the launching of its coffee table book, the ?Silver Tiangge,? that does just that. The fair runs until Sept. 12.

As the Marcos rule neared its end, Negros Occidental?s monocrop economy hit rock bottom. The sugar industry ran by a monopolistic trading arm of the dictator was badly hit by a plunge in world market prices that left warehouses full of rotting sugar and widespread hunger in Negros, which gained international infamy for the images of its malnourished children.

This galvanized a small group of housewives encouraged by the Negros Business Forum led by businessman Daniel Lacson Jr. to explore new ways of helping the impoverished families of Negros.

Fourteen housewives and one male joined a Department of Trade and Industry seminar that taught them how to create crafts. The group hoped that skills transfer to wives and mothers of their sugar farm workers would augment the family income.

This led to the first Negros Trade Fair in Manila in 1985 that had been held annually for the last 25 years, making it the longest running provincially organized trade fair in Metro Manila.

Since then, the Negros Trade Fair, where many of its fledgling entrepreneurs signed their first export contracts, or braved a new cosmopolitan market, has become an engine of growth for the province.

The early stages of handicraft production?which ultimately led to design-led gifts, housewares, and furniture, and reinvention of traditional Negrense food products to suit a contemporary palate?have managed to help change the socioeconomic landscape of Negros Occidental from a monocrop to a diverse economy.

And its story is captured by 11 authors in the 152-page coffee table book in full color published by the ANP with Gigi Mondonedo Campos, the first ANP president, as editor, Manon Campos Hernaez as art director and Noel Oshima as photographer.

Entertaining

The book is not just another boring commemorative. It is a highly entertaining page-turner that has captured the rich culture and spirit of Negrenses to triumph over adversity.

?The triumph of the Negros Trade Fair is told by the thousands of hands that have eked out a new living, sewing and weaving world-class handicraft? to now determine their own incomes and lifestyles, the message on the book cover?s flap says.

?In a big way, the achievement of the Negros Trade Fair lies in proving that Negrenses can free themselves from the curse of a monocrop economy,? it adds.

Carmen Guerrero Napkil, in the book?s foreword, writes that from a brave little fair that began with cottage-industry handicraft 25 years ago it has ?soared into an Association of Negros Producers, of international fame, a world provider of masterpieces.?

?Faced with a reversal of fortune Negros has refused to accept defeat and created a new world of beauty and riches,? Napkil writes.

The story of the ?Silver Tiangge? begins with the ?Winds of Change? written by China Gallaga, ANP?s second president, who tells the story of the lavish lifestyle of Negrenses fueled by a booming sugar industry for almost a century that came to a near end in the 1980s.

?Merchant hearts?

?Merchant Hearts,? written by Millie Kilayko, a former ANP president and chair of this year?s Silver Edition Negros Trade Fair, tells the story of how the ?merchant hearts? of the Negrenses were stirred into life in the midst of a crisis that led to the first Negros Trade Fair in 1985, and of how they sold 200,000 ?Stars of Hope? in 1986 to put food on the tables of 2,000 Negrense families.

Today, the Star of Hope is now silver and still shines and the Negrense merchants continue to shake the world, she writes.

In ?Nature?s Plenty,? furniture designer Debbie Palao tells the story of the success of ANP members? handicraft and design manufacturing by merging traditional natural materials with modern techniques that has gained success on the global scale.

?Romancing the Wood? by Kate Batiquin tells of the furniture and other crafts produced by ANP members, while Val Padilla writes about the ?Indigenous Lights? they have crafted.

Delight to senses

Fashion iconoclast PJ Añanador writes about ?A Culture of Fashion? that describes the Negrenses? sense of fashion reflected in the ANP members? contemporary designs of apparel and fashion accessories.

In ?Of Symbols and Stories,? award-winning book author Jeanette Patindol writes about the Negrenses? souvenir items that themselves tell special stories. ?Untie the Ribbons? tells of how the Negros Trade Fair showcases unique gift items that are both functional and elegantly designed.

In ?Color My World Green,? Lucy Lizares-Yunque writes of how ANP works to save the environment and at producing wellness products, while Margarita Fores of Cibo writes about a mouthwatering chapter on ?The Negrense Cuisine.? Palanca Awardee Vince Groyon, scriptwriter of the Indie Film ?Namets,? tells of ?Sweet Surrender? to the desserts of Negros.

The book also includes famous family recipes on Negrense comfort food like fresh lumpia, chicken inasal (grilled), alimango (crab) with gata (coconut milk) and kalawag sauce, chicken binakol, and KBL (kadios, baboy, langka).

Alan Gensoli writes about how, in concrete ways, the Negrense Star of Hope has turned silver.

The ?Silver Tiangge? is a book that is a delight to the senses and as one ends reading it, one is also left craving for Negros? gastronomic delights.

It is a story that had to be told.