Panagbenga 2021 Festival events set

By Dexter A. See 

BAGUIO CITY – Residents and visitors will in this tourism resort  witness traditional events for the 2021 edition of the Panagbenga known as the Baguio flower festival to gradually and safely boost the local tourism industry.
    Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong said he approved in principle limited events of Panagbenga that will start in February until the first week of March this year.
    However, he said street-dancing and grand float parades, two of the major attractions of the flower festival, will not be allowed as part of preventive measures to contain Covid-19 in the city.
    The local chief executive said approved initial activities include landscaping competition among schools and barangays.
    Other similar activities that will not draw huge crowds of people to converge in certain areas.
    Earlier, the 25th edition of the Panagbenga was cancelled following the Covid-10 pandemic that stalled economies worldwide.
    Board of directors of the Baguio Flower Festival Foundation, Inc. (BFFFI) will provide the local government with updates on preparations.
    Panagbenga is the only festival in the country that was included in the elite list of festivals in the world under the International Festivals and Events Association.
    The mayor said adherence to basic health and safety protocols among  organizers and the public had been reiterated to ensure there will be no untoward incidents that will transpire that might cause transmission of the virus among the spectators.
    The Panagbenga was conceptualized in 1995 as a community-led and government-supported event that grew into one of the country’s major tourist attractions that feature blossoming of the flowers in nearby Benguet and he city.
    The annual Panagbenga was previously done by the BFFFI in partnership with the local government but starting last year, the events that will be lined up during the duration of the festival will be under the management of the foundation composed of representatives from both the government and the private sector in the city.