Baguio's Panagbenga Festival is making a 2022 comeback this March
Baguio City's Panagbenga Festival is finally making a comeback!
The city's highly-anticipated annual flower festival will be held this Mar. 6 to 27, 2022. Unlike its predecessors, there will be no street dancing and float parade held at Baguio's Session Road. Instead, smaller themed activities will be held in lieu of the crowd-gathering festivities.
Starting from the opening ceremonies on Mar. 6, there will be a month-long Gardenscapes exhibition and a Handog ng Panagbenga sa Pamilya cultural event on Mar. 13. On Mar. 20, there will be an Open Dance Competition under the Cultural and Festival Dance category.
Session Road will then be "in bloom" with stalls from Mar. 21 to 27. To cap off the festivities, a closing fireworks show will be in full view on March 27.
The word “Panagbenga” comes from a Kankanaey term meaning “season of blooming," with the flower festival typically starting in February until the second week of March in the past.
The month-long festivities were first canceled in 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was further postponed in 2021 amid the rising cases in the country.
In January, Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong said that the city would opt for a "low-key celebration" in hopes of lessening the risk of transmission.
"Definitely, there would be a Panagbenga 2022. Napag-usapan namin with the Flower Festival Foundation that Panagbenga would be a low-key celebration due to the threat of the Omicron,” Magalong said.
For leisure travelers planning to visit the Summer Capital of the Philippines, here are the requirements to remember:
- Adults must be fully vaccinated
- Unvaccinated or partially vaccinated minors must issue a negative COVID-19 test
- For those with accommodation, contact the designated property/hotel for Baguio QR-coded Tourist Pass (QTP) approval
- For those without accommodation, contact the Baguio Tourism Office for QTP approval
Check out further details on travelling to Baguio here.