"8,000 light bulbs," my friend relayed to me what probably is one of the single, most significant information that he sponged out of this year's organizing committee for the world-renowned Giant Lantern Festival. It's no joke, tweaking a giant lantern that measures 20 ft x 20 ft with the number of light bulbs enough to illuminate a whole town. Well, that's one thing that all the nine participating teams of this year's competition saw through with not more than a few, MINOR bumps.
When we arrived at San Fernando, Pampanga we didn't know what to expect since it was our first time to attend the yearly event. The venue for the festival cum competition was the very parking area (and beyond) of Robinsons Mall - San Fernando.
What greeted us was a sea of vacant Monobloc chairs, a set of trophies, and giant lanterns of which some had their covers already removed. The event wasn't going to start until 7PM so committee members were still darting about, doing final touches, etcetera.
What greeted us was a sea of vacant Monobloc chairs, a set of trophies, and giant lanterns of which some had their covers already removed. The event wasn't going to start until 7PM so committee members were still darting about, doing final touches, etcetera.
At about 5PM, the areas surrounding the enclosed space for VIP's were already crowded. Although there were several thousand chairs that can accommodate guests, experience taught the organizers well that it is really difficult to predict just how big a crowd will be watching the competition. Foreign tourists and locals, dignitaries and common folks were there to represent just about every corner of the social spectrum. It was a public event after all.
The show started after the keynote speech has been delivered by Giant Lantern Festival 2010 Executive Committee chairperson Edgardo Chua. The first to present w6as the team from Barangay Del Pilar, and the last one was the group from Barangay San Nicolas. My favorite lantern was that of Del Pilar but that's just me. In the end, the team that won based on the criteria set by the committee was Sta. Lucia.
Apparently, the giant lanterns made by San Fernando's lantern makers are highly priced among tourists and often sell at 6-digits, with some price tags falling above Php 500,000.
The crowd for this year's festival was at 15,000 to 20,000 strong, according to venue staff.
No comments:
Post a Comment