On its 19 year and incarnation, the Panagbenga Festival of Baguio, known as the Summer Capital of the Philippines, continues its legacy this 2014 of bringing color and excitement to the city. Millions come to the City to take part of the revelry each year drawn by great program, floats, activities, parades and attractions.
The city's mayor, Mauricio Domogan, said the festival is still one of a kind in the whole country, hence the huge crowds of visitors from all over the country. Amid questions of whether the festival will proceed due to questions of finances, the street dancing parade still went on successfully, drawing in crowds of revellers to watch and participate.
The flower float parade remains the main draw and attraction of the festival, which has remained colourful and amazing and a testament to the creativity and diligence of the people of Baguio. The flower float parade is described by the Mayor as the city's pride and honor.
The Panagbenga Festival is a month-long annual flower festival celebrated in Baguio, the summer capital of the Philippines. Meaning "season of blooming" the Panagbenga is a festival held during the month of February, created as a tribute to the city's flowers and as a way to rise up from the devastation of the 1990 Luzon earthquake. The festival includes floats that are decorated with flowers not unlike those used in Pasadena's Rose Parade. The festival also includes street dancing, presented by dancers clad in flower-inspired costumes, inspired by the Bendian, an Ibaloi dance of celebration that came from the Cordillera region.
Aside from economic boosts from tourism, the festival also helped the younger generation of indigenous people to rediscover their culture's old traditions. The indigenous people was first wary with government-led tourism because of the threat that they will interfere or change their communities' rituals.
This year's celebrations drew in an estimated two and a half million visitors, a half-a-million increase from last year's turnout. It is a sign that indeed the flower Panagbenga Festival this years has been a rousing success.
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