Panagbenga Festival 2015 Grand Street Dancing Parade Winners Announced By The BFFFI

The Baguio Flower Festival Foundation Inc. (BFFFI) has announced the winners of the just-concluded Grand Street Dancing portion of the annual Panagbenga Festival. The grand street dancing parade was held on February 28 in front of hundreds of thousands of people who trooped into the streets of Baguio City to witness the event.

There were three divisions: elementary division, secondary division, and open division. Taking the top spots for each division are Mabini Elementary School, Baguio Central National High School, and Pamulinawen Festival, respectively.

Here's the full list of winners:
Elementary Division
1st Place - Mabini Elementary School
2nd Place- Baguio Central School
3rd Place - Emilio Aguinaldo Elementary School

Secondary Division
1st Place - Baguio Central National High School
2nd Place - Kalinga Street Dancers
3rd Place- Pinsao National High School

Open Division
1st Place - Pamulinawen Festival
2nd Place - Municipality of Itogon, Province of Benguet
3rd Place - Benguet State University

Everlasting flowers. File photo/The Cordilleran Sun.

Here are scenes from the parade courtesy of Lakbay Baguio:

College Students In Baguio City Need Not Go To School On February 28

Depending on where your priorities lie, this could either come to you as good or bad news. In an administrative order, Mayor Mauricio Domogan of Baguio City has called for a city-wide suspension of classes in the college level on February 28. This is to give students a chance to watch and participate in the events that will be held on said day as part of this year's edition of the Panagbenga Festival.

The Grand Street Dancing Parade which is one of the main highlights of the flower festival will unfold on February 28. This will be followed on March 1 by the Grand Float Parade. Click here to view the complete Panagbenga Festival 2015 schedule of activities.

Photo from a previous edition of the Panagbenga Festival. Image credit: susancorpuz90 via Flickr (License: CC BY 2.0).

Panagbenga Festival 2015 Schedule And Calendar Of Events

It's that time of the year again. On February 1, the City of Baguio will kick off yet another edition of its famed Panagbenga Festival also known as the Baguio City Flower Festival. This year's celebrations will carry the theme "Across 20 years of Blossoming Together", a theme brought about by the fact that for this year, the city collaborated with the neighboring towns of La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan, Tuba and Tublay.

Because of this collaboration, the city council and the organizers who spearheaded the planning of the festival are promising a more colorful if not grander festival this year. The festival logo has also been redesigned so that it now features six petals which represent the city of Baguio and the five Benguet towns. The festival will run from February 1 to March 8.

The festival will kick off on February 1 with an opening ceremony and a drum and lyre dance competition. These will be held at the Panagbenga Park, Session Road, Harrison Road and Melvin Jones football grounds.

The highlights of the festival which are the Grand Street Dancing Parade and Grand Float Parade will be held on February 28 and March 1 respectively. A grand fireworks display in the evening of March 8 will cap of the festivities. For the full Panagbenga Festival 2015 calendar of events, check out the table below. Enjoy the festivities and if you're coming from out of town, welcome.

Date	Event	Venue
February 1	Opening Ceremonies & Street Dancing Parade Competition (Drum & Lyre Dance Competition-Elementary Division)	Panagbenga Park, Session Road, Harrison Road, Melvin Jones
February 1	Opening concert	TBA
February 1 - March 8	Baguio Blooms Exhibition and Exposition	Lake Drive, Burnham Park
February 15	Handog ng Panagbenga Sa Pamilya Baguio	Melvin Jones
February 15	Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom	Melvin Jones
February 15	Panagbenga 2015 Kite-Flying Challenge	Melvin Jones
February 15	Panagbenga Variety Show	Melvin Jones
February 15	Fireworks Display	Melvin Jones
February 19	Chinese Spring Festival	City-wide celebrations
February 20 – February 22	PMA Grand Alumni Homecoming	PMA, Loakan Road
February 23 – February 27	Floral Arrangement Competition & School-based Landscaping Competition (Judging)	Elementary and high schools in the city.
February 28	Grand Street Dancing Parade	Panagbenga Park - Session Road - Harrison Road - Athletic Bowl
February 28 – March 1	Sponsors’ and Exhibitors’ Day	Athletic Bowl
March 1	Grand Float Parade	DILG, Session Road, Harrison Road, Athletic Bowl
March 1 – March 8	Session Road in Bloom	Session Road
March 7	Pony Boys’ Day	Athletic Bowl
March 8	Panagbenga Closing Ceremonies and Grand Fireworks Display	Athletic Bow and various areas over Baguio’s CBD

Panagbenga Festival 2014 Grand Street Parade (Photos And Video)

One of the highlights of the annual Panagbenga Flower Festival in Baguio City is the Grand Street Parade. Said parade happened today (February 22) and if you missed it, here are photos and videos to keep you up to date.

As expected, it was a colorful and eventful parade. Everyone who participated clearly spent a lot of time and efforts in getting their routines and costumes done. Thanks and kudos to everyone who documented the parade.

Enjoy! By the way, tomorrow (February 23) will be the staging of the most-awaited event in the whole festival which is the Grand Float Parade. For the full schedule of the Panagbenga, click here. Photos below are by Ash Yago Velasco:

Post by Ash Yago Velasco.

Video courtesy of Lakbay Baguio:

Watch a Livestream Coverage of the Panagbenga Festival 2014 Parades

The highlights of the Panagbenga Festival are the Grand Street Dance and Grand Float parades which will happen on February 22 and 23 respectively. If you happen to be NOT in Baguio City during said dates well fret not because you can watch the parades in the comforts of your home. Provided of course that you have a fast internet connection.

Smart Communications and Sun Star Baguio have collaborated to do a livestream coverage of the parades. You get to see the paraded uninterrupted from start to finish. To learn more about thew livestream coverage, go to sunstar.com.ph. Or to their Panagbenga page here.

Everlasting flowers of Benguet. Photo by Igorot Journal

For the complete schedule of the Panagbenga Festival, please go here.

Baguio Panagbenga Festival 2014 Full And Complete Schedule Of Events

This year's edition of the Panagbenga Festival is just a couple of days away. It will kick off on February 1 through an opening ceremony to be held at the Panagbenga Park. After that the Grand Opening Parade will be held featuring the Drum and Lyre Dance Competition.

Here's a simple tip to out-of-towners planning on participating in the festival. At this time of the year, it will be rather difficult finding a place to stay so start booking reservations this early. Or better yet, if you know someone who resides within Baguio or in the nearby towns, you can crash in their couches for a day or two.

Here below is the full schedule of events:

Mayor Mauricio Domogan Suspends Classes In The Tertiary Level In Baguio

The office of Baguio City mayor Mauricio Domogan has issued Administrative Order No. 012, Series of 2014. The order suspends classes in the tertiary level in Baguio City on February 1 and February 22. The mayor cited that the order was issued "to ensure maximum participation of the public in the scheduled parades".

February 1 is the day the Panagbenga Festival will be kicked off. Events on this day include the opening ritual at the Panagbenga Park, the drum and lyre competition at the Athletic Bowl, and the opening of Baguio Blooms which is a landscaping competition. The entries in this competition can be viewed along Lake Drive in Burnham Park. This is a change in venue as previous stagings of the contest were held beside the Skating Rink.

February 22, on the other hand, is the day for the Street Dancing Parade which is considered to be one of the highlights of the festival.

So if you are a student in any of the universities and colleges within the city, start marking your calendars. There should be no classes on these days.

Photo by The Igorot Journal

The theme for this year's edition of the Panagbenga Flower Festival is "Inspiring the Community for a Greener Tomorrow". It's a month-long celebration which attracts tourists from all corners of the country. The closing ceremonies will be held on March 2 and will be capped with a Grand Fireworks Display.