ALS grabs Kalumpangan Festival ‘best booth’ award

THE Alternative Learning Center of Barangay Iponan in Cagayan de Oro was hailed as the grand champion in the recently-held booth contest, one of the highlights of the week-long activities of “Kalumpangan Festival” in honor of the village’s patron saint, Sr. San Guillermo, whose feast is celebrated today, February 10.

During the award’s night held last Thursday, the residents who dressed up the ALS booth received a trophy, cash prize, roundtrip ticket for two to Manila and one live cow.

The booth of Zone 7 was adjudged second while the booth from Zone 4 bagged the third prize and ABCCA, in fourth place. They all received cash, trophy and livestock as prizes.

The booth contest, which was held at the barangay’s park, was participated by 21 zones and different organizations, which showed off the residents’ creativity.

Iponan village chief Anthony “Gaga” Brilleta said he provided all the materials for the booth to entice everyone to participate in the contest.

“It’s up to them how they will come up with the most unique booth,” Brilleta said.

This year’s fiesta theme is “Garbo ko ang Iponan, kalambuan natagamtaman sa tanan.”

Several activities were already held to commemorate today’s feast of San Guillermo, which started last February 1. Activities include sports fest for the youth, field demonstration from the village’s private and public schools, zones and subdivision night, macho gay contest, miss gay contest, parade and disco.

A mass will kick off today’s fiesta to be followed by other activities that would showcase the beauty of Iponan and its well known dishes, particularly suman and humba.

Brilleta said the celebration is their way of saying “thank you” to their patron saint for the abundant blessings and sparing them from the wrath of tropical storm Sendong and typhoon Pablo.

“I also want to tell the world that it’s more fun in Cagayan de Oro and definitely more fun in Barangay Iponan,” he said.