AN incredibly long stretch of milkfish or “bangus” being grilled combined with simultaneous live concerts, made the perfect recipe in this year’s Bangus Street Party, which brought the month-long Bangus Festival in Dagupan City, Pangasinan to a rousing close.
Over half a million locals and tourists flocked to the street party on De Venecia Sr. Expressway, where more than 15,000 fresh bangus were grilled along the road for everyone to feast on while watching their favorite artists and bands perform.
This year's sight of hundreds of thousands of people swarming the roadside to sample various mouthwatering bangus recipes while dancing and singing along their favorite performers was a far cry from the festival’s humble beginnings in 2001.
Bangus Capital of the World
While some of the country’s major festivals are based on religious devotions, the local government cooked up the Bangus Festival with the aim of promoting and developing the bangus industry, and establishing Dagupan City as the “Bangus Capital of the World.”
In such a short period, the Bangus Festival slowly reached its goal, becoming grander each year with cooking competitions, trade exhibitions, food contests, as well as cultural presentations participated in by neighboring provinces such as Abra, Benguet, Bulacan Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, and Zambales.
“We are honored that we are now known as one of the country’s biggest street festivals, drawing thousands of people from here and abroad,” said Mayor Belen T. Fernandez, honorary chairman of the festival.
“We are grateful to the utmost support of major sponsors who made the Bangus Festival bigger and more colorful this year,” Fernandez added.
Smart Prepaid 'Live All Out' Rock and Rave Party
This year, wireless services leader Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart), backed the Bangus Festival by bringing in the Smart Prepaid ‘Live All Out’ experience to Dagupan for thousands of festival-goers to enjoy.
Smart Prepaid set up an electrifying ‘Live All Out’ Street party on Stage 7 of the festival, headlined by Filipino alternative rock band Rocksteddy. The mostly yuppie crowd went wild as the band rocked out their hits songs such as ‘Superhero, ‘Lagi Mo Na Lang Akong Dinededma,’ and ‘Ayos Lang Ako.’
Urban party scene staple DJ Elmer Dado, along with Gruppo Tribale, also brought intense energy to the massive crowd by giving his own twist to popular dance beats.
Homegrown bands such as Skidz, Playmates, Lies and Time & J2K Band also had the time of their life performing at the Smart ‘Live All Out’ stage, showcasing their own renditions of pop and rock tunes.
Meanwhile, adding star power to the concert were TV5 stars such as Ritz Azul, Eula Caballero, Valeen Montenegro, Nicole Estrada, Mark Neumann, Benjo Leoncio, Akihiro Blanco and Marvelous Alejo, who all charmed the crowd with their dance and song numbers.