LA TRINIDAD , Benguet – The municipal council approved the proposed extension of the operation of the strawberry lane stalls at the municipal park up to the end of the month to provide strawberry producers added avenue to earn income.
Vice Mayor Roderick Awingan stated that the council decided to approve the request for the extension of the operation of the strawberry lane as part of the municipal government’s recovery and resiliency plan to help concerned sectors to recover from the serious negative impact of the pandemic to their established sources of livelihood.
He claimed that the extension of the operation of the strawberry lane will allow residents and tourists to have easier access to the various products from the town’s different barangays for and facilitate marketing of strawberry-inspired products of the exhibitors to regain the vibrance of trading activities in the municipality.
Earlier, the municipal government allowed the conduct of the strawberry lane as part of the toned-down activities for this year’s Strawberry festival as part of the ongoing efforts by the concerned government agencies and the municipal government to gradually and safely revive the heavily impacted local economy.
However, the exhibitors reported that the duration of the activity was limited which was not sufficient enough as there were not that many buyers unlike in the previous conduct of the strawberry lane, thus, they requested the municipal government to allow them the extended operation in the municipal park.
Mayor Romeo K. Salda also endorsed to the municipal council the proposed extension of the operation of the strawberry lane to allow the participating exhibitors to improve their economic activities and start their gradual and safe recovery from the negative impact of the pandemic to their economic activities and sources of livelihood.
He expressed hope that the opening of the town’s tourist destinations to vaccinated visitors from the different parts of the country will help in increasing the number of people patronizing their various products that include strawberry-inspired items because strawberry picking and strawberry-inspired crafts are one of the most patronized products from the municipality.
He pointed out that the municipal government is always supportive of the various initiatives undertaken to ensure the gradual and safe revival of the local economy because these will contribute in the ongoing efforts to become resilient and eventually bring back the jobs that were lost and the livelihoods of the people.
Municipal officials expressed hope that any emerging variants of the deadly virus will be contained to make sure of the ongoing initiatives to bring back the vibrance of the economy.
The town’s Strawberry Festival is one of the major crowd drawing events in the province that entices residents and visitors to move around and contribute in perking up the local economy that suffered a serious setback over the past 2 years.
