A GRANDER Dagupan Bangus Festival is now being planned by the city government as part of a strategy to stimulate economic activity in the midst of the financial crisis.

The executive committee in charge of organizing the event, headed by Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez, has started consulting various sectors, including local businessmen and barangay chairmen, for the planning of the month-long summer spectacle which will start on the first week of April.

Fernandez, who is also president and chairman of the board of Northern Luzon’s retail giant City Supermarket Inc., vowed that this year’s Bangus Festival will “definitely be bigger than the previous year’s”, which she also headed.

Part of the consultations is an assessment of last year’s festival to determine the best practices that would be carried on in the next festival.

Fernandez and City Engineer Virginia Rosario also travelled to Cebu and Iloilo cities last week for the “Sinulog Festival” and “Dinagyang Festival”, two of the biggest fiestas in the country, to get an insight into their activities and organizing schemes.

One of the changes in this year’s celebration will be an expansion of the “Festival of the North” street dancing competition, which will no longer be confined to participants in the Ilocos Region.

Street dancing champions in Cagayan Valley in Region 2, Cordillera Region as well as Region 3 will now be invited to join.

Fernandez said she will recommend to Mayor Alipio Fernandez that the prizes for each category be increased to P200,000 for first prize; P100,000, second prize and P50,000 third prize.

The other features of the festival that will be retained include the “Gilon-gilon” dancing, which depicts the crude but effective method of harvesting bangus in ponds and pens to be performed by local youth; Bangus rodeo; Pista’y Dayat; cookfest; sports events; food fair; and the Battle of the Bands, among others.

Some of the new features will be a Halo-halo TaMalamig Festival and Pigar-pigar Festival.

A big crowd-drawer since early 2000, the Dagupan Bangus Festival seeks to promote the city not only as the “Bangus Capital of the World” but also for its people’s customs and traditions, culture and arts.—LM

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