CAGAYAN de Oro City’s Gaston Park lit up with hundreds of colorful lights as the local government officially began the celebration of the Yuletide season Monday night, December 2.

The city government kicked off the start of the Christmas season with a parade of “motorelas” decked in Christmas decorations and Christmas-themed marching bands from the Rotunda to Kiosko Divisoria.

In the evening, hundreds of Kagay-anons came to witness the ceremonial switching of the Symphony of Lights, the city government’s million-peso project for the holiday season, held at the Gaston Park.

“Didto ta sa city hall kay gagmay pa man ang mga kahoy. The last two years didto ta sa city hall kay alang-alang pa man ang Gaston Park. Hopefully, modagko pa ning mga kahoy so we have more lights,” City Mayor Oscar Moreno said.

For his Christmas message, Moreno looked back at the achievements of the city as the decade of 2010 is about to end.

“We are about to end the decade of 2010. By end of December, end of this month, we will end another decade and atong paaboton ang bag-o na pud nga dekada. We started this decade with the Sendong disaster in 2011 and which brought unspeakable damage and pain sa katawhans a dakbayan. Pero kalooy sa Diyos, nakabangon kita. Nakabangon to build back better,” Moreno said.

“Now as we are about to end this decade, I want you to know that we are ending this decade on a high note,” he added.

The city’s top official said the achievements of Cagayan de Oro is not just for the city but also of the region, as they anchor their direction on the premise that “Cagayan de Oro is just a convergence point of the bigger picture, and the bigger picture being Northern Mindanao.”

“What that means is Cagayan de Oro has the throne of leadership dinhi sa tibook rehiyon to bring Northern Mindanao to greater heights. And as Northern Mindanao grows, Cagayan de Oro also benefits from that tremendously,” Moreno said.

The Symphony of Lights at Gaston Park will run from December 2 to New Year’s Day. It will then resume one week before the Chinese New Year celebration.