More exciting events set for Baguio Flower Festival

BAGUIO CITY – Revelers will be treated to more exciting, colorful and entertaining performances of street dancers and well-decorated floats during the grand street dancing parade and grand float parade, two of the major highlights of the 19^th edition of the Panagbenga set Feb. 22 and 23.

           

“Everyone along the parade route will witness dynamic performances of our stretdancers because participating contingents in the elementary, secondary and open categories will be given time to perform in the identified stops,” said Dr. Elizabeth Calinawagan, chairperson of the Panagbenga Cultural Society

            She said streetdancing contingents are required to select a cultural group that they want to represent during the grand streetdancing parade on Feb. 22 but they must follow the right color of their costumes, observe right wearing of costumes and perform  dances in accordance with steps of performance.

            “There will be performances by streetdancers every fifteen minutes along the parade route from the Panagbenga Park along South Drive up to the Baguio Athletic Bowl,” Calinawagan said.

            Because of the new guidelines for the streetdancers, she said  spectators in the areas where there will be stops can witness the performances considering that all of the streetdancers will be performing simultaneously in the areas where they are situated during the prescribed period.

            Freddie Alquiroz, co-chairman of the Panagbenga Executive Committee, disclosed in the stops, the streetdancers are allowed to make their respective formations in one minute, showcase their spectacular performances within three minutes, return back to their original formations in one minute and then walk along the parade wrote for ten minutes.

            He added marshals will be deployed along the parade route to give the signals when it will be time for the streetdancers to perform their selected piece and when it will be time to walk on the parade route.

            Alquiroz cited the simultaneous performances of the streetdancers is geared towards addressing the complaints of spectators that they were not able to witness the cultural performances of the groups during the previous stagings of the festival and to reduce the long gaps that cause the audience to be bored as well as to make everybody happy and learn a part of the culture of the Cordillera.

            “We designed the streetdancing parade to be both cultural and entertaining for the benefit of our visitors who spent their time, effort and resources just to come up to the city and witness the highlights of the flower festival,” Calinawagan added.

            Furthermore, spectators who will not be satisfied in watching the performances of the streetdancers along the parade route could still witness the ground demonstration of the groups at the Baguio Athletic Bowl since they will be making their presentations before the board of judges along the route and on the ground.

            The 19^th edition of Panagbenga opened Feb.1 with elimination round of the streetdancing competition and will officially end on March 2 with fireworks.

            On Feb. 23, visitors and local residents will witness floral decorations of more than 25 participating floats of government agencies and corporations.

            Anthony de Leon, chairman of the Panagbenga executive committee, said three hall of famers in the flower festival’s float competition, specifically Baguio Country Club, SM City Baguio and Chowking floats, are expected to spice up the display of flowers in order to provide spectators with more attractions.

            The flower-decorated floats will parade from the top of Session Road up to the Baguio Athletic Bowl where the floats will be displayed for more than a week until the closing ceremonies of the flower festival.

            According to him, the main guideline for the participating and competing floats is that at least 90 percent of the floats are made up of flowers that are either locally-grown or imported depending on the type of the agency or corporation wanting to present their float.

             In order to come out with a float, de Leon admitted agencies and corporations usually shell out around P300,000 up to P1 million just to be able to develop a highly competitive float that will help spice up the celebration and add up to the quality of the flower festival.

            From Feb. 1 to March 2, local landscapers will showcase landscaping, carpet of flowers and vertical gardens along the stretch of Burnham Lake Drive which will be an added attraction for visitors and local residents during the month-long festivities.

            Ann Ramos, a member of the technical committee of the Panagbenga market encounter, said there will be 62 pavilions, and more than 100 stalls in the area which are required to present flower-inspired landscaping in order to help in attracting the influx of more visitors during the staging of the flower festival.

            According to her, landscapers are now in the process of preparing their centerpieces in time for the opening of the flower festival next Saturday.

            On Feb. 24 up to March 2, Session Road, the city’s main road, will be closed to vehicular traffic to pave the way for the setting up of flower-inspired sidewalk cafes and for the conversion of the area into a virtual promenade area that will add up to the entertainment offered by the festival to both visitors and local residents.

            De Leon said stalls along the road will be required to make their own landscaping in order to sustain the theme of the festival this year and help in the promotion of locally grown flowers such as roses, carnation, sunflower, Malaysian mumps among others.

            During the closure of Session road, organizers were able to tap sponsors who will bankroll the conduct of nightly entertainment activities which will sustain the presence of visitors during the duration of the festival.

            Last year, local tourism industry stakeholders were able to record around 2 million foreign and domestic visitors that flocked to the Summer Capital during the grand streetdancing parade and the float parade alone which heavily contributed to the robust growth in the local tourism industry.

            For this year, de Leon is confident that more people will visit the city during the flower festival activities considering that those who scheduled their visit to the south have changed plans and are now bound for the north, particularly Baguio City, because of the damaged sustained by tourism destinations in Visayas due to the onslaught of Supertyphoon Yolanda.

            Panagbenga is the only month-long festival in the country because of the numerous activities that are lined up for the month-long celebration considering the number of agencies, groups and corporations wanting to take advantage of the expected surge in the influx of visitors wanting to spend their break in the city to enjoy its cool and romantic weather aside from witnessing world-class performances of streetdancers and other presentations offered by the festival.