Here's The Schedule Of Events For La Trinidad's Strawberry Festival 2017

It's all systems go for this year's edition of the Strawberry Festival in La Trinidad, Benguet. The town has dozens of events lined up for both locals and visiting tourists. With its theme of "sustaining the fruits of La Trinidad's agro-eco tourism", a lot of the scheduled activities in the festival revolve around the town's status as one of the agricultural and tourism centers in the north.

The main events of the festival will be held during the last two weeks of March. These include the "owik tan tayao" and cultural celebrations, street dance and float parades, strawberry cake fest, "Dongba ni Kavadjo", and the search for Mr. and Ms. La Trinidad. Check out the full calendar of events for the festival below:

File photo by The Cordilleran Sun / Daniel Feliciano.

Image source: Valred Olsim via the La Trinidad Tourism Facebook group page.

Image source: Valred Olsim via the La Trinidad Tourism Facebook group page.

La Trinidad Strawberry Festival Day 20: Strawberries On Boots Of Spanish Leather

The town of La Trinidad in Benguet is in the thick of celebrating its annual Strawberry Festival. Less than two weeks remain of the scheduled month-long festivities. Today (March 20) saw the staging of the Drum and Lyre Competition and the festival's own version of a float parade.

Since the festival was developed around strawberries (one of the town's most well-known products), every one of the floats featured the red, fleshy fruits. We weren't able to catch the parade itself but we had a glimpse of the floats which are currently parked in front of the municipal hall. Below are a few snapshots we took.

For scenes from the parade, you can check out photos from the folks over at the La Trinidad Shutterbugs website here. Mayor Edna Tabanda riding a mini-horse carriage? That was pretty cool.

La Trinidad Strawberry Festival 2015 Schedule And Calendar Of Events

Strawberries will once again take center stage this coming month of March as the town of La Trinidad in Benguet stages yet another edition of the annual and always-colorful Strawberry Festival. This year's theme is "A colorful gathering and merry-making." In the local vernacular, this translates to a colorful "panaspulan tan pandadsahan".

The festivities will officially commence on the second day of March with the opening of the Agro-Industrial Trade Fair at the La Trinidad public market grounds. The schedule of activities which was recently unveiled during a press conference held by the town on February 16 shows a thicker calendar compared to past editions of the festival. Check out the complete and official calendar of events below. (Source: The Eternal Student)

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Date	Time	Event	Venue
February 16	10 am	Kapihan (Press Conference)	Municipal Park
March 2-31		Agro-Industrial Trade Fair and Best Barangay Booth Competition	Public Market Grounds
March 6	8 am	Valley Clean-Up Drive	Roads, Balili River and tributaries
March 6	8 am	Ecumenical Service and Opening Program	Public Market Grounds
March 7	8 am to 5 pm	La Trinidad Tourism Adventure	La Trinidad
March 7	8 am	G-String Downhill Bike Challenge	La Trinidad
March 7-8	8 am	PBA Legends Basketball Clinic	Municipal Gym
March 7-31	8 am to 5 pm	Art and Photo Lane (w/ art workshop and photo competition)	Municipal Park
March 7, 14, 27	5 pm to 9 pm	Concert at the Park	Pubic Market Grounds
March 9	8 am to 5 pm	International Women’s Day Celebration	Municipal Gym
March 13	6 pm	Mr. and Ms. Strawberry Body Building Pageant and Biggest Loser Challenge	Municipal Gym
March 13	1 pm	La Trinidad Indigenous Games	Public Market Grounds
March 14	9 am	La Trinidad Dog Show	Public Market Grounds
March 14	2 pm	Flower Arrangement Contest	Strawberry Lane
March 14	6 pm	Strawberry Punch (Boxing and Muay Thai)	Municipal Gym
March 16	9 am	Ribbon Cutting Ceremony and Opening of the Strawberry Lane and Agro-Industrial Trade Fair	Municipal Park
March 16	1 pm	Strawberry Baking and Pastries Competition	Municipal Gym
March 16	2 pm	Festival Strawberry Cake	Municipal Gym
March 18	6 am to 10 am	Street Dancing and Parade	Assembly at BSU Parking in Betag
March 18 (Festival Main Program)	10 am	“Panaspulan tan Pandadsahan”: A Colorful Panaspulan tan Pandadsahan	Public Market Grounds
March 18	12 noon	Kekkan	Municipal Gym
March 18	2 pm	Multi-Cultural Celebrations and Owik tan Tayao	Municipal Gym
March 19	6 am	Procession in Honor of St. Joseph	To San Jose Parish Church
March 19	9 am	Renewal of Vows	Municipal Park
March 20	1 pm	Strawberry Forum	Benguet State University
March 20	8-10 am	Mini-Float Competition and Parade and Drum and Lyre Competition	Municipal Park
March 20	6 pm	Barangay Night	Municipal Gym
March 21	5 am	Strawberry Fun Run and Walk	Municipal Park
March 21	7:30 am	Duting tan Dukto	Municipal Park
March 21	10 am	Search for the Biggest and Sweetest Strawberry Fruit	Strawberry Lane
March 21	2 pm	Vegetable Fun Race	Municipal Park
March 21	4 pm	Battle of the Bands	Public Market Grounds
March 21	7 pm	Mixed Martial Arts (Team Lakay)	Municipal Gym
March 21-22	8 am to 5 pm	Inter-Barangay Football Championship and Men’s and Women’s Invitational Football Cup	BSU Grounds
March 23-24	8 am to 5 pm	Day Care Children Recognition	Municipal Gym
March 25	1 pm	La Trinidad Youth Symposium	Public Market Grounds
March 25	5 pm	Acoustic Band Competition	Public Market Grounds
March 27	8 am	La Trinidad Got Talent	Municipal Gym
March 27-28	5 pm	Dart Wars	SVHR
March 28	6 pm to 12 pm	Coronation Night: Mr. and Ms. La Trinidad	BSU Gym
March 28-29	8 am	Gymkhana in La Trinidad (Festival of Horses)	La Trinidad
March 29	8 am	Strawberry Festival Mountain Bike Challenge	La Trinidad
March 29	8 am	Karate Invitational Competition	La Trinidad
March 30-31	8 am to 5 pm	Jobs Fair	Municipal Gym
March 31		Search for the Cleanest and Greenest Barangays and Schools
March 31		Search for the Cleanest, Greenest, and the Most Colorful Business Establishments and Homes	La Trinidad
March 31	6:30 pm	Strawberry Night Classique: An Evening of Wine, Food and Music	Municipal Park
March 31	2 pm to 5 pm	Culminating and Awarding Program	Public Market Grounds

Looking For An Outdoor Challenge? Then Join The First La Trinidad Valley Adventure Race!

As part of the upcoming Strawberry Festival in La Trinidad which will kick off this coming March, the town will be staging its first valley adventure race which will pit 12 couples against each other in a race challenge that will take them to various points in the valley. Think of it as the Amazing Race: La Trinidad. Said race will be held on March 7.

To be qualified to join, you and your partner should be from La Trinidad and that you should be at least 18 years old. The race will involve a lot of physical and strenuous activities. That said, you should be healthy and physically fit. Only 12 pairs will be allowed to enter the race so register early. Couples are encouraged to register before March 1.

Image credit: Valred.

Participants who will make it to the race will be required to pay a registration fee of 300 pesos per pair. They will also be asked to prepare their first aid kits, cameras, and mobile phones with internet connection. For more information on how to register, call or text Valred at the following phone number: 09294-619-617.