CADIZ City is all set for the 2020 edition of the renowned 46th Dinagsa Festival.
In a press conference on Thursday, January 9, Mayor Salvador Escalante said the city's annual festival will have something new to adapt to the millennials.
Escalante said the highlight of the Ati-atihan Street Competition was moved to Saturday, January 25, to allow guests to return home and still work on Monday.
He added a mascot called "Niño" will be introduced, a first for Dinagsa Festival. He also said there will be two K-Pop groups from South Korea who will be having a concert during the street party on January 26.
The event's popular "lamhitanay" will feature water-based luminous paint that can be seen during the night festivities, the mayor said.
Escalante said the 2020 Dinagsa Festival will kick off on January with the inauguration of the newly renovated city park worth P24 million.
Built in 1964, the park renovation is funded by the Office of the President, he pointed out.
"It is now well lighted and has more open spaces," Escalante said.
He added that as part of the preparations for the event, a traffic rerouting will be implemented in going in and out of the city to prevent traffic congestion, which occurred in the past.
To maintain peace and order, Escalante has requested security augmentation from the Negros Occidental Provincial Police Office composed of 300 police personnel.
"We expect to exceed last year's crowd of 700,000," he added.
This year's theme is "Sto. Niño de Cadiz: Padayon kaupod sa pag-uswag sa siyudad sa Cadiz."