MOST of the major activities in this year's Pasko Fiesta will be celebrated at the Sta. Ana Pier from the usual San Pedro Square to avoid road closures, the Davao City Tourism Operations Office (CTOO) bared.
CTOO head Generose Tecson said the Pasko Fiesta, the city's annual month-long Christmas festival which will officially kick off with the lighting up of City Hall on November 23, will be spread out in the entire city so that locals and the tourists will also have the chance to explore other areas.
"Most of the activities will be at the Sta. Ana Pier so that we would avoid road closures. At the same time, we would be able to divide the people in the Sta. Ana and the City Hall area," Tecson said.
She added the celebration was moved earlier, as instructed by Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, to give Dabawenyos a longer time to celebrate Christmas.
She said the festival will have a budget of P22 million just like in 2018.
Meanwhile, Tecson said the theme for this year will be "Santa's toy factory".
"We wanted to have that kind of theme, wherein there will be display of dolls, teddy bears, robots, because we wanted to highlight that Christmas is a celebration for everyone, especially for the kids," she said.
The official also said Christmas displays will also be decorated in city's playgrounds, particularly in Calinan and Mintal.
She also said free amusement rides and ice cream cones will also be the highlights of the celebration, adding Santa Claus will also be roaming around the parks.
In a previous interview, Tecson said event oragnziers earlier convened to prepare some of the activities.
Tecson also said activities such as bands, dance competitions, and traditional events such as Lamdag Parada and Kahayag sa Dabaw will also be showcased.
Meanwhile, CTOO announced on its Facebook page that Banda Dasig will now be moved as part of the Araw ng Dabaw 2020 activities.
"This is to ensure that participating students, parents and teachers alike will enjoy the Christmas season without the worries of preparing for the said event. Rest assured that the Banda Dasig for Araw ng Davao will be more exciting with bigger prizes for participating Marching Band Teams," CTOO said in an online post.
In 2018, the City Transport and Traffic Management Office received pile of complaints from the public due to traffic congestion that was brought by the Banda Dasig, which was held in the evening.
Hundreds of motorists were stuck and commuters got stranded in different areas in southern and northern parts of the city.