Get ready for Bani’s watermelon party!
1ST PAKWAN FESTIVAL
BANI—A big festival celebrating pakwan is set for February 6 to 9, with street dancing, an agricultural fare and other events highlighting this town’s most famous produce.
Mayor Gwen Yamamoto, who is serving her first term, said the festival is in line with her development plan focusing on livelihood and tourism.
“Ang Bani po ngayon makikita niyo marami nang pagbabago gaya ng Pakwan Festival,” said Yamamoto remarked during the KBP forum last week.
Events during the festival include the unveiling of a Pakwan Fountain at the center of municipal plaza on Feb. 6; symposium for pakwan growers on Feb. 7; streetdancing on Feb. 8 to 9; contests for biggest and heaviest pakwan; and a “human pakwan-palakihan ng tiyan” body paint competition.
Yamamoto said they are targeting at least 30,000 visitors given the limited accommodation facilities in town but pointed to neighboring Alaminos City and Bolinao as additional options to visitors for lodging.
Free watermelon shakes will be given to visitors as a thirst-quencher during the festivities.
The mayor also gave early warning to motorists of the traffic jam in the vicinity as some roads will be closed to give way to the festivities.
PAKWAN INDUSTRY
Bani, a second-class municipality in western Pangasinan, has been known for its sweet watermelon produce with almost 200 hectares of farm lands devoted to the fruit while yellow corn, supplied to animal feed manufacturers, makes up its second top product. The town also produces watermelon by-products such as jam and vinegar.
Yamamoto said the watermelons of Bani, which come in different varieties, have come to be known among the sweetest in the Philippines most likely because of the rich limestone content in the town’s soil.
“We suspect it is the limestone that makes our water melon tastes sweet since it becomes a natural filter of the water that gets into the plant,” said Yamamoto.
Yamamoto said the municipal government, despite its minimal budget of P106 million, is able to provide subsidy to the water melon farmers numbering some 200.
Each water melon farmer can apply for up to P8,000 loan per season, charged with a modest interest of P200 after five months.—with report from LVM, Johanne R. Macob
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