The Panagbenga Flower Festival 2018 will be holding its Grand Parades on Feb. 24 and 25. It starts off with the Grand Street Dance Parade on Feb. 24 and ends with the Grand Float Parade on Feb. 25. Both parades will showcase street dance groups and flower floats who are also taking part in the competitions.
According to the Baguio Flower Festival Foundation, this year’s competition has bigger prizes in store for the winners. Councilor Elmer Datuin cited that the top prize for the big float category is PhP 500,000 and PhP 200,000 for the small float. Elementary and high schools joining the street dance competition can expect a top prize of PhP 250,00o for each division winner. The Open Category Division has a top prize of PhP 300,000.
Grand Street Dance Winners: Baguio Central School Bags Elementary Division
A total of 8 elementary schools competed in the Drum and Lyre Dance Competition, namely Baguio Central School, Tuba Central School, Josefa Carino Elementary School, Aguinaldo Elementary School, Dominican Mirador Elementary School, M.L. Quezon Elementary School and Jose P. Laurel Elementary School.
Baguio Central School with it’s performance called “The Legend of the Blooming Flowers in the Cordillera,” bags the first prize for the elementary division.
The high school category has participants from the following schools: Remnant International College, Pines City National High School, UC-Senior High School Street Dancers Ensemble, Baguio City National High School and Saint Louis University Laboratory High School. Taking home the first prize is the University of the Cordilleras Senior High School Dancers.
Open Category Brings 14 Groups, The Winner Is…
The Open Category has the most number of participants this year, with 14 cultural groups from the Cordilleras joining. Aside from several cultural and dance groups from Baguio and Benguet, participants from Aurora, Kalinga, La Union, Mountain Province and Pangasinan competed in this category.
Saint Louis University bested 13 other groups and took home the first prize for its street dance in the open category.
Grand Float Parade Winners
This year, a total of 19 floats will take part in the parade and the competition, with 11 big floats and 8 small floats vying for the prizes. The Baguio City government, NLEX Corporation, SM City Baguio and Hall of Famer Baguio Country Club will also showcase their colorful floats in the parade. The parade starts at 8:00 a.m. from Upper Session Road and will end at Melvin Jones Auditorium where visitors can see the floats up close.
According to the Philippine News Agency, authorities estimate that around 1.2 million people watched the Float Parade this year. Among the crowd drawers this year is the ABS-CBN float which featured Coco Martin and cast of The Probinsyano, and the GMA float with Ruru Madrid, Megan Young and Mikael Daez.
On Feb. 28 during the Kapihan sa Baguio, the foundation announced the winners of the float competition. For the Big Float category, Master Siomai takes the first prize, followed by M Lhuillier in second place and Sitel Corporation for third place.
In the Small Float category, Maybank bags the first prize, for the second time. Saleng Garden gets the 2nd prize while Coca-Cola wins the 3rd prize.