FOR 25 years, we have gawked at them in their most colorful best, inching up the main thoroughfare: The floral floats.

But very few, except the artists and artisans tasked to make them, get a ringside view of the goings on before the float are done.

That was what I was able to snitch an invitation to -- a sneak preview of the LBC Hari ng Padala floral float.

The float, which eventually won the top prize in the big float category, was commissioned to the Puentespina Orchids, and thus the construction was done at the motorpool shop at the back of the Puentespina Orchids Garden along Bolcan Street in Agdao. The putting in of the flowers had to be done the night before the parade -- when the night air is already cool and the flowers will have no more time to wilt.

It was Puentespina's first time not to be an official participant of the floral float competition. As Jing, the "flower girl" among this farming family, said the Puentespina brood have met about it and decided not to join this year. It was the father, Roberto Sr., who wanted to join.

"Kahit sa small float category na lang daw (Even in the small float category)," Jing said, as she went around supervising how the workers were progressing.
Luckily, LBC commissioned them, and thus the father got what he most wanted -- a floral float, and in the big float category at that.

All around us were boxes upon boxes of cut mums of different colors.
"Akala mo ang dami na niyan (You'd think that's a lot of flowers)," Jing said, "pero pag nadikit mo na yang mga yan, kukulanging ka pa (But once you have put them all up, you'll realize, you need more)."

By the driveway, a pickup thundered in and more boxes of flowers were delivered.
The Puentespinas take their float construction as seriously as they take their agriculture endeavors. On a bulletin board are the architect's rendition of the float, Gantt chart (a bar chart that illustrates the project's schedule and how they are keeping up), and the job assignments.

Puentespina has been a regular participant of the floral float parade for the past 25 years such that they have already pooled a number of artisans and artists such that every construction becomes a celebration with food, jamming, and free flowing beer on the night before. (I had other engagements and thus had to call a raincheck on this, but a friend who went to the garden at near midnight for some business confirmed, there was free-flowing beer and food).

Float construction has not just become a family affair for the Puentespinas but a gathering for fun by workers and artists.

And like the excited dad that he was, Roberto Sr. and wife Charita, the doyenne of orchids, arrive to see how work on the float is progressing and exchange banter with the workers.

Off to one side, a man pretends as if he's tickling the main statue of a lady in clothes made of dried leaves and beans, as he paints it gold, while at a separate garage where paint and lacquer fumes could easily knock you off, the artists are singing and jamming... the spirit of fun was in the air.