A MARCH staging of the Baguio Flower Festival is on.
Baguio Flower Festival Incorporated (BFFI) media head Andrew Pinero said after a meeting with city stakeholders last week, plans to stage all crowd drawing events for the annual festival have started to take shape.
Pinero said plans for the request for extension made by the BFFI was approved by Mayor Benjamin Magalong to allow operations of the Baguio Blooms Exposition and Exhibition (BBEE), a chance to recover from the impact of postponements caused by health issues over the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).
Pinero said as the extension was granted, definite dates of the duration will be set as soon as the 21-day period previously set by Magalong to halt all crowd drawing events expires.
Pinero added the schedules of all parades as well as activities postponed in the meantime will likewise be set as soon as health advisories from the Department of Health allows.
The ongoing BBEE within the Baguio Convention Center still falls low on participation from exhibitor as the city announced indefinite postponement of high impact activities for the flower festival, now on its 25th edition, known as the Panagbenga.
The month-long BBEE formally opened by flower festival organizers February 1, 2020 to jumpstart the 25th edition of the Panagbenga and provide residents and visitors with landscape attractions and flower-inspired handicrafts and souvenir items.
Pinero said all sponsors for the festival as well as stakeholders like float participants, landscapers as well as parade participants were immediately informed for the development and possible March schedules.
Since the inception of the Panagbenga over two and a half decades ago, the market encounter which is now known as the Baguio Blooms Exhibition and Exhibition where local landscapers will display their landscape pieces while exhibitors will be allowed to display their handicrafts has always been a major highlight of the month-long flower festival and was able to earn its patrons through the years.
Originally, the site of the market encounter was within the Camp John Hay (CJH) area before it was transferred to the Burnham Lake Drive where it was able to gain its market as it was located right at the heart of the city.
However, the venue for the same event was transferred to the Baguio Convention Center grounds this year as the city government made its position clear that it will not allow the use of the Burnham Lake Drive as a vending area as it creates grave traffic congestion around the central business district, especially at the height of the major flower festival events.
Pinero said the Hotel and Restaurant Association has had full bookings since the start of the month and relayed only reservations involving out of the country clients were cancelled as international travel has been affected by the global virus scare. (With a report from Baguio City Public Information Office)