Baguio City, Philippines – The city of Baguio will push through its famous Panagbenga festival next year, but Mayor Benjamin Magalong said the festival will only focus on landscapes, and heritage and cultural creativity, not on crowd-drawing activities such as the street dancing and flower float parades.
“Definitely, Panagbenga 2022 goes on but without the crow-drawing events such as the opening, street dancing and flower float parades,” Magalong stressed.
Magalong said this is to avoid a spike in cases of COVID-19 even though the city has already recorded a 90 percent inoculation rate.
“There shall be no big gatherings allowed, including launching activities,” said the mayor.
The mayor added that during next year’s Panagbenga, organizers, participants, and spectators are expected to comply with the minimum public health standards such as the proper use of facemask, social distancing, and frequent handwashing.
Monitoring of the Omicron variant
Meanwhile, Magalong said that they will observe developments on the dreaded Omicron variant. In case of progress in the new variant, the mayor said all the activities will be subdued.
Panagbenga postponed for 2 years
The Panagbenga began in 1995 with “the project focused on tourists visiting the city during its coldest, and when flowers of different species bloom.”
Normally, the festival activities include “opening, float and street dancing parades, the Market encounter, landscapes, Session Road in Bloom, Pony Boys’ Day, while others are sports, barangay and school-based competitions.”
Since the start of the pandemic, Panagbenga has been postponed for two years, and next year’s celebration will have been the 27th Panagbenga.
The 2022 Panagbenga festival calendar of events will be released soon, said Magalong.
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