CLOSE to a million people trooped to join the all-night Bangusan Street Party along Jose R. de Venecia Expressway Extension in Dagupan City on Friday night.

The unprecedented attendance at the penultimate event of the Bangus Festival 2010, has clearly entrenched its hold to its claim as the biggest street party in the country. Last year’s attendance record of 700,000 alone led the Department of Tourism to officially declare the Bangusan Street Party as the biggest street party in the country.

Coming from north and south other entry points, the residents and visitors trekked to the highway to witness the once a year street party, the climax of the Dagupan Bangus Festival.

Revelers strolled through the four-lane highway built across fishponds while others cooked bangus on grills, which as 10 bands played today’s beat music in different parts of the highway.

The presence of television icon Kris Aquino-Yap, sister of Liberal Party standard bearer Benigno Aquino III electrified the revelers more. She joined Mrs. Gina de Venecia, Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr. and Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez, chair of the Bangus Festival in grill lighting ceremony to formally start the revelry.

Politicians and their supporters weaved through the crowd but they were prevented from walking up on any stage to campaign.

A reported plan by a political group to stage a rally in the eastern end of the Jose R. De Venecia Expressway Extension to divert the attention of the crowd did not materialize.

Security was tight as everyone who entered the party site was frisked for hidden deadly weapons. A ball pen was even considered a deadly weapon for the party.

The police and Public Order and Safety Office were on alert and patrolled the party area all night.

Ambulances from the Dagupan City Emergency Operations Center as well as from the Philippine National Red Cross and the Region 1 Medical Center were on stand by.

The police reported that the people stayed on in the street to watch the fireworks display before midnight and stayed on till the wee hours in the morning.

For a while, organizers feared a cancellation when dark clouds hovered over the area and a heavy downpour followed at 1 p.m. They heaved a sigh of relief when the sky cleared after two hours and the rains stopped like it rained just to cool the area.

But the rains poured again at 11pm sending revelers dancing in the rain. –LM

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