In the Plaza de la Reina de València, the large gift shop that until recently became a sweets and candy establishment displays an entire arsenal of Fallas in its window. From the typical blue checkered scarf, to blouses – the classic garment of the fallero – to the typical dressed doll that, dressed in the Valencian regional costume, emulates the Barriguitas fallera.

Two steps away there is another gift and souvenir shop in which there is no shortage of pins in the shape of a firecracker or a comb and fifty meters away, hats made of the same blue fabric characteristic of the Fallas and even some decorated with the printed image of the Geperudeta, for the most devout.

The shops dress up as Fallas these days because, without a doubt, the Fallas festival is also the protagonist of the city’s souvenirs. It is not surprising taking into account the figures released in the Economic Impact Report presented last week by the Mesval Chair of the University of Valencia: in the fallera week of 2023 there were 804,332 unique visitors to the city of Valencia on the occasion of the Fallas which, added to the more than 500,000 residents, exceed the number of 1.3 million people wandering the streets of the city.

With such a projection of visitors for the next few days, the bazaars stockpile Fallas material as well as the kiosks that, along with newspapers and magazines, sell these days specific publications of the festival or extra supplements from the local press.

Any product with a hint of failure is worth conquering the tourist, who these days is almost everywhere. A refrigerator magnet with an image of the city if it has a fallera is sure to be a success these days and even in a well-known toy store in the center their stuffed animals are dressed and sold with the fallero scarf incorporated.

But there is one more step for the curious tourist and it is in diving into shops with their own style. There are those linked to design where these days it is easy to find illustrated T-shirts of the mascletà, Miguelete construction games or fallera cutouts, elevating the concept of the archetypal souvenir to a higher category.

There are also t-shirts with local messages – “Tinc el cor encés en flama”, for example – and many others with illustrated flames and fire, recipes for Valencian paella and various tributes to rice.

From the tourist promotion of the city, they emphasize diving into this other native offer and put the focus on traditional businesses that extend around the Valencia Cathedral, such as the Iron Pots Store, which, with more than 200 years of history, it is still the oldest in the city and where you can also go to take home some souvenirs, for example, of Fallas crafts.

Comb-shaped chocolates, chocolates filled with mistela and tablets with the message “Quina fallera más guapa” coexist with churros and chocolate cakes and cakes that revisit the buñuelo, which in its traditional form can be found almost on any corner of the city due to the large number of street stalls. Souvenirs of short enjoyment that also triumph these days in a city that is already burning with party.