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BAGUIO
CITY – The country’s summer capital will bloom soon with more with flowers and
greens literally carpeting the city’s central business district.
On
its 20th staging in February 2015, Panagbenga — or the Baguio Flower Festival —
will feature more blooms and color, according to Anthony De Leon, Baguio Flower
Festival Foundation chairman, as
officials launched last week the month-long festival.
The festival was
launched here Nov. 17 during regular flag ceremony at city hall grounds with
Mayor Mauricio Domogan officiating.
On its 20th staging,
Panagbenga or the Baguio Flower Festival will have traditional activities:
children’s parade on Feb. 1, market encounter, street dance parade and flower
float parade on the third weekend, Session Road in Bloom, sports
exhibition and competition, Pony Boys’ day, and a grand closing program with
fireworks in various venues.
According to
Domogan, the opening parade serves as elimination round for the drum and lyre
and elementary streetdancing parade category.
The city is
allotting P4 million for festival prizes and other expenses, the mayor
added.
The mayor broached
the idea of having four street dance categories; elementary, high school,
college and open category. The number of participants dwindled due to some
participants’ consistent winning of top awards, thus placing them in the hall
of fame. Mayor Domogan said fall-of-famers are urged to join the competitions
again.
In a press
conference after Panagbenga 2014, several suggestions were given for the next
festival, including having city and barangay officials, participants from the
La Trinidad-Itogon-Sablan-Tuba-Tublay (BLISTT), out-of-town or regional
contingent-guests join with choreographed dancing to the tune of the Panagbenga
Hymn, as patterned from the steps of the IbaloiBendian.
Contingents are
also encouraged to join with their own flower floats. Invitations for media
coverage for the 20th version of Panagbenga should be floated
early, local counterparts said.
Considering that
the festival entices more visitors than what could be provided sufficient
housing, provisions for parking, housing or camping spaces should be given more
thought for Panagbenga 2015, it was urged. It has been observed that more
tourists and some locals have opted to set up tents and catch up with Baguio’s
February chill.
“The
original concept of community participation — barangays participating in
the cleanest and greenest and the flower landscaping competitions will be
revived. More students from elementary, high school and college
will
also see action in the grand street dancing parade,” said De Leon.
He
added that the week-long “Session in Bloom” will not only see the usual selling
of local wares, flowers and plants, but will showcase booths with their
frontages landscaped from the center of the road to the sidewalks.
“We
want to see more flowers and greens, which is the real concept of the flower
festival,” De Leon said.
This
year’s theme: “20 years of blossoming together,” will showcase the
participation of all sectors of the Cordillera community and of groups coming
from the different provinces of the country. – With a report from Julie G.
Fianza
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