BAGUIO CITY — Fifteen participants maximized the use of fresh and dried flowers to decorate their canvases and show their perspective of the theme “rebirth” at Ibagiw Creative Village.
The Flower Art Competition was held early in the morning to celebrate the flowers blooming in May and to showcase the creativity of the Baguio, La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan, Tuba, and Tublay (BLISTT) residents.
“Actually, it was one of our interns who proposed the idea and we presented it to our Baguio Tourism officer tapos sabi n’ya, ‘Ahh ganito pala ang idea ng mga Gen Z’. Nagustuhan n’ya yung idea so we did it,” Tourism Operations Officer II Rachelle Anne N. Montoya, MBA stated.
Each of the participants received a certificate of appreciation to thank them for their participation in the event before announcing the winners, who received a certificate of winning, along with a cash prize.
Angela Laquipo from Ambiong Central received a 5,000-peso cash prize as a second runner-up, first runner-up Rizza Ernesto was awarded a 7,000-peso cash prize, while Kamyl Yvonne Agulto secured a cash prize worth 9,500 pesos as the Floral Art Competition Champion.
Sabsabong ti Mayo was originally made to cater to the landscapers and flower vendors who lost their jobs and income during the pandemic.
Their first competition was called “ Floral Landscape Competition” where the participants were required to dress mannequins using flowers at the Rose Garden.
The event gained positive reactions so they made another event such as the first one but with an added “Butterfly Category”, a larger one in size.
This encouraged teamwork amongst participants who entered in groups, such as the flower vendors, landscapers, organizers and stylists.
Baguio Tourism repeated it with the next year called “Sabsabong ti Mayo Gastro-Siesta” where they partnered with the food stalls within Rose Garden to include and share food.
They also created the “Flower and Lei Competition” where the participants made garlands symbolizing Baguio City and highlighting the theme as the “Everlasting Sabsabong”.
It shows that flowers aren’t only beautiful enough to look at but also intricate enough to be appreciated in more ways than one. By Dessa Joi Peralta
