The city and organizers of this year’s 28th edition of the Panagbenga popularly known as the Baguio Flower Festival are now ready in time for the conduct of the twin highlights, the grand streetdance parade on Saturday, February 24, 2024 and the grand floral parade on Sunday, February 25, 2024, especially with the expected influx of residents and tourists who will be flocking to the 5-kilometer parade route during the said events.
Some thirteen contingents composed of six elementary drum-and -lyre groups and seven festival dance groups will be showcasing their performances before the huge crowd expected to gather along the parade route from the Panagbenga Park along South Drive passing through Lower and Upper Session Road, Magsaysay Avenue, Harrison Road, Jose Abad Santos Drive and will end at the Melvin Jones football field during the grand streetdance parade on Saturday.
The entries to the elementary category are all from the city, namely the Baguio Central School, Apolinario Mabini Elementary School, Lucban Elementary School, Manuel Roxas Elementary School, Tuba Central School and Jose Laurel Elementary School, while the contingents that joining the festival dance category are the Baguio City National High School–Special Program in the Arts, Bitulok Tribe streetdancers of Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija, Bani Pakwan festival from Bani, Pangasinan, Tribu Palayano of Palayan City, Nueva Ecija, Tribu San Carlos Kinayasan street dancers of San Carlos City, Pangasinan, Narvacan Naisangsangayan of Narvacan, Ilocos Sur and Tribu Rizal of Rizal, Kalinga.
On the other hand, some 34 beautifully decorated and landscaped floats will be joining this year’s record-breaking grand floral parade along a shorter parade route from Upper Session Road, Lower Session road, Harrison Road, Jose Abad Santos Drive and will end up at the Melvin Jones grandstand on Sunday. Floral floats are categorized as non-competing floats while thirty floats are classified competing with 14 medium, 13 large and 3 small floats.
The non-competing floats are from the Baguio City government, the Cordillera office of the Department of Tourism (DOT-CAR) and Hall of Famers, Baguio Country Club and SM City Baguio.
Personalities from the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA) will be the flower festival guests on Saturday while DOT officials will grace the grand floral parade the next day.
Right after the grand floral parade on Sunday, Session road will remain closed to vehicular traffic until midnight of March 3, 2024 to pave the way for the annual Session Road in Bloom where the city’s main thoroughfare will be converted into a promenade with cafes and shops that display flower-inspired crafts will be set up.
The week-long Session Road in Bloom will also feature various performances from visiting artists and spice up the activities lined up by the organizers for the 28th edition of the Panagbenga Flower Festival. By Dexter A. See