SUNKISSED BORACAY is a a series of parties that serve as the highlight of the Labor Day weekend activities in the island from April 30 to May 3. In the photo are (from left) Smart Prepaid Senior Manager Gerard Milan, DOT regional director Atty. Helen Catalbas and Fearless Productions, Inc. partner Ronald Singson.
Will you be among the thousands heading to Boracay for the Labor Day weekend? Share, tweet, and post about your summer experience, a tourism official said.
Department of Tourism Western Visayas Director Atty. Helen Catalbas and Smart Prepaid Head Joel Lumanlan encouraged the thousands of visitors expected in Boracay to share their experiences online to help promote the island.
An estimated 75,000 visitors are expected in Boracay over the Labor Day weekend from May 1 to 3, triple the number of visitors on regular summer weekends.
Are you celebrating the Panagbenga Festival 2015 in Baguio City? Join the SMART-Innopub social media photo contest and get the chance to win one of three LTE pocket Wi-Fi devices.
All you need to do is like the official Facebook pages of Smart Travel PH and Smart Communications, Inc., download the free Baguio Guide app to your Android or Windows phone devices, and tag the Panagbenga 2015-related photos you upload to your social media accounts with #smartpanagbenga.
Baguio Guide mobile app
InnoPub Media, in coordination with wireless services leader Smart Communications, Inc., is holding an online photo contest covering Panagbenga 2015-related activities.
The Panagbenga 2015 photo contest will run from February 25 to March 2. To join, all you need to do is post your Panagbenga 2015 photos in your Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts and tag them with #smartpanagbenga and notify us of your entry by leaving a link to your photo as a comment in the Smart Travel PH FB page.
The Best Panagbenga 2015 Photo, Best Panagbenga Selfie, and Best Media/Blogger Entry will each win a SMART LTE pocket wifi device. Aside from #smartpanagbenga, photos by media and bloggers must carry either the #baguiomedia or #baguioblogger tags.
Smart and InnoPub will be selecting 10 finalists and posting their photos on the Smart Travel FB page on March 5. Read the full mechanics of the SMART-InnoPub Social Media Photo Contest in the Baguio Guide app.
A tiger float made of flowers was one of the Grand Float Parade entries during the Panagbenga Festival 2010. (Creative Commons photo by Adel Mendoza)
Taking inspiration from Pasadena’s “The Rose Parade,” Baguio City’s Panagbenga Festival is held not in honor of some saint or legend but pays tribute to the city’s beautiful blooms.
A historian and museum curator, Ike Picpican, named the festival Panagbenga, a word in the local Kankanaey dialect that refers to a season of blossoming.
Panagbenga Festival participants perform the warrior’s dance of the ethnic Ifugao tribe.(Creative Commons photo by Miguel Isidro Photography)
For a city that has been through so much, the Panagbenga takes on a special significance as it also means the blooming of an idea or vision for hope, revival, unity, and growth.
Baguio’s crowd-drawing flower festival was conceptualized in 1995 by a man they now call the Father of Panagbenga, Atty. Damaso Bangaoet Jr.
The city was still reeling from a killer quake that left it in rubbles in 1990. The Panagbenga Festival gave people hope for a brighter future.
A tiger float made of flowers was one of the Grand Float Parade entries during the Panagbenga Festival 2010. (Creative Commons photo by Adel Mendoza)
Bangaoet, who was then the head of the John Hay-Poro Point Development Corporation (JPDC), presented his idea to the board of directors and it was immediately approved. JPDC allocated funds to help bring it about.
Sunflower emblem
Like its wild sunflower emblem, the Panagbenga Festival continues to blossom year after year.
The people of Baguio and visitors to the summer capital took to the flower-inspired festival as it doesn’t trample on cultural practices or beliefs and divide tribes.
What the celebration does is promote local culture and unite a Baguio of diverse ethnic backgrounds behind a festival it can consider its own.
Bangaoet cooked up the festival to draw more tourists to Baguio on a February, which is considered a lean season for travel.
Festival highlights
The Panagbenga Festival has grown to become one of Baguio’s biggest tourism attractions some 20 years since it was first conceptualized.
One of the highlights of the month-long celebration is the Floral Parade, which happens on a seven-kilometer stretch of street and involves groups of dancers garbed in flowery costumes performing the Bendian dance.
The biggest draw of the Panagbenga Festival, however, is the Grand Float Parade. During this event, Baguio highlights its artistry in the flower float creations that glide through the streets.
One of the groups that performed in the Grand Street Dancing Parade, one of the highlights of Baguio City's Panagbenga Festival, in past celebrations. (Photo taken from the Baguio City Government website)
The Panagbenga Festival in Baguio City, now on its 20th year, pays tribute to the city’s beautiful blooms.
Although it’s a month-long celebration, the flower festival’s highlights include the Grand Street Dancing Parade and the Grand Float Parade.
One of the groups that performed in the Grand Street Dancing Parade, a highlight of the Baguio City Panagbenga Festival, in a past celebration. (Photo taken from the Baguio City Government website)
The street dancing parade happens on a seven-kilometer stretch of street and involves performers garbed in colorful costumes decorated with flowers performing the Bendian dance.
In the Grand Float Parade, Baguio highlights its artistry in the flower float creations that glide through the streets.
The Panagbenga Festival 2015 theme is “Across Twenty Years of Blossoming Together”.
Panagbenga Festival highlights
Grand Street Dancing Parade
February 28
Locations: Panagbenga Park, Session Road, Harrison Road, Athletic Bowl
Grand Float Parade
March 1
Locations: DILG, Session Road, Harrison Road, Athletic Bowl
Panagbenga 2015 schedule
Here’s the fully Panagbenga Festival 2015 schedule of activities:
February 1, 2015
* Opening Ceremonies and Street Dancing Parade Competition
(Drum and Lyre Dance Competition – Elementary Division)
Locations: Panagbenga Park, Session Road, Harrison Road, Baguio Athletic Bowl
* Baguio Blooms Exhibition and Exposition
Location: Lake Drive, Burnham Park
February 2 – 14, 2015
* Baguio Blooms Exhibition and Exposition
Location: Lake Drive, Burnham Park
February 15, 2015
* Baguio Blooms Exhibition and Exposition
Location: Lake Drive, Burnham Park
* Handong ng Panagbenga sa Pamilya Baguio
Location: Melvin Jones
* Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom
Location: Melvin Jones
* Panagbenga 2015 Kite-Flying Challenge
Location: Melvin Jones
* Panagbenga Variety Show
Location: Melvin Jones
* Fireworks Display
Location: Melvin Jones
February 16 – 18, 2015
* Baguio Blooms Exhibition and Exposition
Location: Lake Drive, Burnham Park
February 19, 2015
* Baguio Blooms Exhibition and Exposition
Location: Lake Drive, Burnham Park
* Chinese Spring Festival
Location: City-wide
February 19 – 22, 2015
* Baguio Blooms Exhibition and Exposition
Location: Lake Drive, Burnham Park
* PMA Grand Alumni Home Coming
Location: Philippine Military Academy, Loakan Road
February 23 – 27, 2015
* Baguio Blooms Exhibition and Exposition
Location: Lake Drive, Burnham Park
* Floral Arrangement Competition and School-based Landscaping Competition (Judging)
Location: Elementary and High schools in Baguio City
February 28, 2015
* Baguio Blooms Exhibition and Exposition
Location: Lake Drive, Burnham Park
* Grand Street Dancing Parade
Locations: Panagbenga Park, Session Road, Harrison Road, Athletic Bowl
* Sponsors’ and Exhibitors’ Day
Location: Athletic Bowl
March 1 , 2015
* Baguio Blooms Exhibition and Exposition
Location: Lake Drive, Burnham Park
* Grand Float Parade
Locations: DILG, Session Road, Harrison Road, Athletic Bowl
* Sponsors’and Exhibitors’ Day
Location: Athletic Bowl
* Session Road in Bloom
Location: Session Road
March 2 – 6, 2015
* Baguio Blooms Exhibition and Exposition
Location: Lake Drive, Burnham Park
* Session Road in Bloom
Location: Session Road
March 7, 2015
* Baguio Blooms Exhibition and Exposition
Location: Lake Drive, Burnham Park
* Session Road in Bloom
Location: Session Road
* Pony Boys’ Day
Location: Athletic Bowl
March 8, 2015
* Baguio Blooms Exhibition and Exposition
Location: Lake Drive, Burnham Park
* Session Road in Bloom
Location: Session Road
* Panagbenga Closing Ceremonies and Grand Fireworks Display
Locations: Athletic Bowl and various areas in Baguio’s (Central Business District) CBD
Panagbenga 2015 Schedule of Activities
Source: Baguio City official website
