The summer capital is once again celebrating the Panagbenga Festival under the new normal. Unlike last year, the city has eased travel restrictions to allow the fully vaxxed.
BAGUIO will once again bloom and dance this March for a new normal version of the Panagbenga Festival to help the revival of the region’s tourism industry.
The highly-anticipated annual flower festival will start this March 6 sans street dancing, float parade, and other crowd-drawing events in favor of smaller activities across the city.
“Napag-usapan namin with the Flower Festival Foundation that Panagbenga would be a low-key celebration due to the threat of the Omicron,” Mayor Benjamin Magalong told reporters.
Under the theme “Panagbenga 2022: Let Hope Bloom,” the festival opens with the reopening of the Baguio Botanical Garden and the month-long Landscaping Exhibition on Mar 6.
While the traditional Handog ng Panagbenga sa Pamilya cultural event will be held on March 13 featuring mini-events FUNagbenga Zumba, Let A Thousand Flowers Bloom, Open Painting Exhibitions, Kite flying, and a cultural show.
From March 21 to 27, Session Road will be closed to vehicular traffic to give way to the “Session Road in Bloom” where local businesses will take over and open stalls.
There will also be a Panagbenga Open Dance competition on March 20 but with limited viewers in compliance with the minimum public health standards.
From March 19 to 20, Baguio will also host the 19th Ronda Pilipinas where hundreds of cyclists will be arriving in the city for the famous criterium finale.
Then from March 25 to 26, golf enthusiasts will come to the Summer Capital for the traditional Flower Tee Golf at the Baguio Country Club.
The festivities will close on March 27 with a fireworks display.
Panagbenga, which translates to “season of blooming” traditionally started in February until the second week of March. It was canceled in 2020 and was moved to March starting 2021.
The city has eased into Alert Level 2 in time for the festivities and the local government further loosened travel restrictions allowing all fully vaccinated tourists to enter.
Tourists must register through visita.baguio.gov.ph to get their QR-coded tourist pass.
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