SABLAN, Benguet – The municipality is now ready for higher levels of competition, especially in the staging of festivals and the preparation and presentation of floats, that will surely aggressively promote the town’s fruit industry, a member of the board of judges of the 20th Sablan Fruit Festival float parade said here recently.
La Trinidad Councilor Belmer Elis, who chairs the capital town’s committee on tourism, admitted that he was surprised how each of the participating barangays created their floats that made it hard for the judges to decide which among the floats would be declared the winner.
He claimed that with slight adjustments, the barangay floats can actually compete with similar floats being presented by government agencies, local governments and even private corporations during the conduct of prestigious festivals around the country, such as the Panagbenga in Baguio City and other crowd drawing events inside and outside the region.
The conduct of the float parade that showcased the various fruits produced in the municipality served as one of the major highlights of this year’s staging of the 10th Sablan Fruit Festival that started last August 5, 2024 and ended last September 4, 2024.
Elis said that this year’s presentation of the floats from the different barangays is a significant improvement from previous presentations which really impressed the members of the board of judges.
Previously, Sablan has been known to be a major producer of banana and pineapple before a deadly virus nearly wiped out the town’s banana industry.
However, other kinds of fruits were able to thrive in the municipality such as lanzones, durian, marang, rambutan, mangosteen, which allowed the municipality to earn its title as the fruit basket of Benguet.
Mayor Alfredo Dacumos, Jr. also admitted that he himself was also surprised by the quality of floats of the different barangays that participated in the float parade.
He expressed his gratitude to the barangays for the quality floats they presented to the public that wowed the residents and visitors along the parade route and those who viewed the float parade in the various social media platforms that allowed Sablan to be further recognized for such efforts in improving the conduct of this major crowd drawing event.
“We were surprised to witness the good quality of floats presented by our barangays when we arrived at the starting area of the float parade. They deserve our utmost congratulations for a job well done in contributing to the successful staging of our annual fruit festival. We also thank the members of the board of judges for their observations that will surely serve as an inspiration and motivation for us to continue striving for the best in the future conduct of our festival,” Dacumos stressed.
Sablan has been known as the fruit basket of Benguet because of its semi-temperate climate that allows the growth of tropical fruits similar to what is being produced in other areas in the country, like the Davao region. By Dexter A. See
