Cagayan de Oro wins Pyrofestival 2012

ANOTHER spectacular Pyrofestival was witnessed by thousands of kagay-anons and visitors last Monday at the Las Ramblas parking area of SM City.

Now on its fourth year, SM City, the host of this annual event, never failed to provide unique entertainment by gathering in at least eight participants from different areas in the country to compete in the Pyrofestival, held as one of the anticipated core events of this year’s Kagay-an Festival.

At exactly 8:00p.m. with clear skies and without a trace of rain and a final clearance from the Air Transportation Office, the organizers started the countdown to commence the 30-minute fireworks with different choreography and timing by the participants coming from General Santos, Bulacan, Iligan City, Malaybalay City, Dumaguete, Manila and Cagayan de Oro.

In this year’s showdown, Cagayan de Oro was adjudged as the new champion and bagged P80,000 cash plus trophy, taking away the crown from Dumaguete as last year’s winner.

Being the last entry in the festival, Cagayan de Oro showcased a well-choreographed fireworks, balancing the high and low rise selection in many colors, which created a distinction from the other participants.

Bulacan, with its spectacular choice of fireworks, bagged second 2nd place, taking home P60,000 cash plus trophy.

Iligan City retained its spot as third placer in last year’s competition and got P40,000 cash plus trophy.

Meanwhile, Cagayan de Oro City Vice Mayor Caesar Ian Acenas, overall chairperson of Kagay-an Festival 2012, said he was very impressed with this year’s celebration.

Acenas said the month-long preparation of Kagay-an Festival was done with much “stress and lots of sleepless nights” just for the City Government to come up with a merry festival in honor of St. Augustine.

But he said their sacrifices had paid off, with the success of this year’s celebration.

“Seeing Kagay-anons enjoy every moment of the festival is a great fulfillment from the part of the City Government. After the tragedy we went through, we can say that we are indeed back on our feet and moving forward,” Acenas said.