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The piñón has its own festival in Caviahue See map

In the town of Caviahue is held every year the Provintial Piñon Festival, an event designed to spread to the locals and all visitors who want to know the region, landscapes, activities and customs of the people of Caviahue.

The festival started in the 80s with the intention of performing a tribute to the man in the area and its traditions in a cultural event. 

The pinion has a edible purpose, with high nutritional value.

Gradually it grew and it was promoted as an opportunity to publicize the attractions of Caviahue and Copahue, affecting everyone as the baths or the ancient forests of araucarias.

The festival have mutated in only a show of riders and rodeo skills to include artistic perfomnaces and promote places like Copahue Provincial Park, mountains, streams, waterfalls, hot springs and forests of the area.

The event is an activity that invites residents and visitors who come to tour the stands in a creole weekend with offer to the tourists visiting the region.

Activities that are developed:

• Rodeo skills: rodeo, horses dressage, girth, the round the stick and roll reins.
• gaucho parade
• exhibition and sale of handicrafts
• sale of food and crafts
• tasting of products and processed foods based on flour piñon
• soapy pig competition
• artistic shows
• camper dance with bonfire
• election of the queen of the pinion and the chinita (for girls 12 years) 

The piñones are the fruit of the Araucaria/Pehuen, old trees growing in the area of ​​Neuquén and Río Negro. The piñon is collected for eating traditional recipes or cooking only. Indigenous communities living in the region use it in their diet and have transmitted this practice to the rest of the population. 

The Araucaria measure up to 50 meters high. The leaves are tough and thorny on the tip.

The food at these events takes a leading role, especially when it comes to goat on a spit, pies, cakes, chips, pine nuts, mote and many other foods.

Annually it is estimated that about two thousand people visit the festival over the two days of March that is celebrated, usually at the end of month. Locals, neigbors of nearby villages, of neighboring ranches and tourists from home and abroad come to the fest.