DAGUPAN CITY – All preparations are in place for this year’s Bangus Festival, which will run from April 9 to May 1, Mayor Belen Fernandez announced on Saturday.
The weeks-long celebration will kick off with a fun run advocating disaster and calamity preparedness.
“With the calamities happening in some parts of the world, it is important to be prepared,” Fernandez said in Filipino.
Among the festival’s highly anticipated events is the Gilon-Gilon ed Baley Street Dancing Competition on April 26, a cultural highlight that draws thousands each year.
To celebrate the city’s signature product—bangus or milkfish—various activities will be held on April 28, including the Bangus Rodeo, a contest to find the fastest bangus sorter, a search for the heaviest bangus, and Bangusine, a culinary showcase featuring innovative bangus dishes.
The festival’s highlight, the Bangusan Street Party, will take place on April 30. Organizers aim to grill around 20,000 pieces of bangus on 1,100 one-meter-long grills along De Venecia Road. Each grill set costs PHP4,000 and comes with five kilos of bangus, charcoal, and grilling essentials.
“Last year, the street party alone drew around one million people, which greatly benefited our local economy,” Fernandez said. She also assured that the city has secured an adequate bangus supply for the event.
The street party will feature multiple performance stages with confirmed acts including TJ Monteverde, KC Tandingan, Spongecola, and Karylle.
Fernandez emphasized that security and crowd safety remain top priorities for organizers throughout the festival.