2015 Schedule | Panagbenga Flower Festival

In order for you to have a perfect plan in joining the celebration of Baguio's Panagbenga Flower Festival, you need to be aware of all the schedule of activities of the event. With your full knowledge about the schedules, you can organize your time and visit the best places where the event of the day is to be held.

Here are the following schedule of activities for the celebration of the Panagbenga Flower Festival on this year of 2015:

1. February 1 - Sunday

a. Opening Ceremonies and Street Dancing Parade Competition

- The opening of the Panagbenga Flower Festival will be lead by different groups of students from the Elementary Division. Their performances is actually considered as the "Drum and Lyre Dance Competition".

The venue will take place at the Panagbenga Park, Session Road, Harrison Road and Baguio Athletic Bowl.

b. Opening Concert

- A lively concert is a good way to welcome the celebration of the Flower Festival. Although, the venue will soon be later announced.

c. Baguio Blooms Exhibition and Exposition

- The local entrepreneurs are given the opportunity to showcase their products. In most cases, they are food products but what really attracts the attention of most tourists are Baguio's own local products. Some of them includes flowers, wooden carvings and fresh produce.

The venue will take place at the Lake Drive, Burnham Park.

2. February 2 to March 8

a. Baguio Blooms Exhibition and Exposition

- As already stated above, this is an event where the local entrepreneurs will be able to market their various forms of products. The venue will be at the Lake Drive, Burnham Park and they will remain there until the 8th of March.

3. February 15, 2015

a. Handog ng Panagbenga sa Pamilya Baguio

- This is an event where family members can get together and enjoy themselves painting the banners that are to be used during the Grand Street Parade on February 28th and the Grand Floral Float Parade on March 1st.

b. Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom

- This is an event which offers an opportunity to all art enthusiasts or anyone who are interested in creating artwork using canvas and paints provided for free by the organizers.

c. Panagbenga 2015 Kite-Flying Challenge

- A kite-flying competition to all interested individuals where they get to win prizes.

d. Panagbenga Variety Show

e. Fireworks Display

All events on February 15th will be held at Melvin Jones.

4. February 19 - Thursday

a. Chinese Spring Festival

- The Filipino-Chinese Community in Baguio are also given the chances to celebrate their Spring Festival which is now considered as a part of the Panagbenga Flower Festival. This event will be held city-wide.

5. February 19 to 22

a. PMA Grand Alumni Home Coming

- Graduates of the PMA will celebrate their Grand Alumni Home Coming at the Philippine Military Academy, Loakan Road.

6. February 23 to 27

a. Floral Arrangement Competition and School-based Landscaping Competition (Judging)

- The venue is at the Elementary and High Schools in Baguio City

7. February 28 - Saturday

a. Grand Street Dancing Parade

- The most anticipated event of the Panagbenga Flower Festival is the Grand Street Dancing Parade. Dancers will be marching starting from the Panabenga Park, Session Road, Harrison Road to the Athletic Bowl.

b. Sponsors' and Exhibitors' Day

- All sponsors of the event are given the chances to present themselves and so as the final exhibitions of all participants for their judging. This will be held at the Athletic Bowl.

8. March 1 - Sunday

a. Grand Float Parade

- On the 1st day of the month of March is the Grand Float Parade where all floats are well decorated with colorful and different types of flowers. The float parade will commence from the DILG, Session Road, Harrison Road to the Athletic Bowl.

b. Sponsors' and Exhibitors' Day

- Presentations of the sponsors and final exhibitions of all competing floats.

9. March 1 to 8

a. Session Road in Bloom

- Session Road will be closed and stalls will be put-up.

10. March 7 - Saturday

a. Pony Boys' Day

- The pony riders will be competing against one another on a race that is to be held at the Athletic Bowl.

11. March 8 - Sunday

a. Panagbenga Closing Ceremonies and Grand Fireworks Display

- To end the festival, a closing ceremony needs to be properly held. The venue will be at the Athletic Bowl. And after the closing ceremony, there will be a grand fireworks display on various areas of the city particularly in the evening.

Be sure to record these events on your handy organizers if you are planning to join the celebration.

Baguio Panagbenga Flower Festival

"Baguio" is a place in the Philippines which gained the title as the country's "Summer Capital". As for the "Panagbenga Festival", it's English translation is "Blooming Flowers Festival". This term is actually originated from the "Malayo-Polynesian" which means "Season of Blooming".

The flower festival is annually celebrated at the center of the city which is held on the whole month of February. This form of celebration was created as a tribute into the blooming flower of the city and to encourage the people of Baguio to rise up from devastation of the previous powerful earthquake that occurred back in 1990.

Baguio's flower festival's grand celebration includes Street and Float Parade. In the Street Parade category, the participants are composed of dancers with flower-inspired costumes. Most of these dancers comes from the Cordillera Region while there are also some guests from other regions of the Philippines.

Celebrating the Panagbenga Flower Festival have a good economic boosts from tourism. Aside from its economic benefit, the younger generation of the indigenous people will be able to learn more about their old cultural traditions.

Regular Events of the Panagbenga Flower Festival

1. Grand Opening of the Flower Festival

On that 1st day of the month of February, an opening street parade will be held to signify the start of the Panagbenga Festival. The street parade will start from the Upper Session Road where the dancers marches down towards the Melvin Jones Grounds.

The participants are composed of volunteers who are also contenders in the upcoming Grand Street Parade. Although, they will only be performing a few sample of their performances to entice the crowd of spectators to come and watch the grand event in the succeeding following weeks.

2. Trade Fair and Bazaar

At some places of the Burnham Park, trade fair will be held which usually starts from the 1st Saturday of February until the end of the month. This trade fair are composed of small shops selling various and unique goods of the city's own cultural products. These includes flowers, sculptured wooden figures, woven baskets and etc...

3. The Grand Street Dancing Competition

At the 3rd or 4th week of the month of February, the most awaited "Grand Street Dancing Competition" is held. The contestants are composed of students from different schools in Baguio and they are to be judge according to their divisions (Elementary, High School and College), costumes and performances. Guests participants (who are not from the Cordillera Region) are excluded from the competition but they are free to perform.

Credits to Saori Sam from Bitlanders : Street Parade

4. Float and Marching Band Competitions

The day that follows after the Grand Street Parade is the "Float and Marching Band Competition". This event are composed of vibrant, well designed and multicolored floats that are made out of flowers with various kinds. Along with these floats are bands that marches along the street which keeps the lively tone of the parade. There are also some dancers with their colorful costumes performing their lively cultural dances.

Credits to Saori Sam from BitLanders: Grand Float Parade

5. Session Road in Bloom

After the Grand Street and Float Parade, Session Road will be closed for various Shop Vendors to put-up their stalls and introduce their products to all visitors particularly to the tourists. Thus, Session Road will be closed to all vehicles where they are given a re-route.

Aside from the stalls, concerts will also be performed by various popular musical entertainers in some selected areas of the Session Road. This activity is organized and managed by the city's tourism sector.

6. Closing Ceremonies

Unfortunately, every event must come to an end. The Panagbenga Flower Festival event comes to an end at the 1st Sunday of the month of March.

On the 1st Sunday of the month of March, there will be various entertaining performances and exhibitions for the whole crowd of spectators. A closing program ceremony will be held which will formally end the festival then later in the evening, there will be an amazing firework display.

Traveling to Baguio City

Commuting from Manila to Baguio is a very convenient option especially when you choose to take a bus-ride from the Victory Liner or Genesis Bus Companies. These two bus companies have excellent services with good reputations.

Victory Liner

If you choose to take a ride from the Victory Liner buses, their buses bound for Baguio can be found at their bus terminals in Pasay (EDSA), Cubao (Quezon City) and Monumento (Caloocan). On the other hand, the Victory Liner's terminal in Baguio is located a few walking distance from the city's SM Mall.

Victory Liner buses operates on a 24-hour service where each bus on-the-line leaves for every hour period.

Genesis Bus

Genesis Bus Terminals in Manila is located at Cubao (EDSA cor. New York Street) and Avenida (Doroteo Jose cor. Oroquieta St.). In Baguio, their terminal is located at the lower area of the SM Mall.

But unlike the Victory Liner, Genesis Bus operates on different schedules. I suggest that you should check their official website for a more accurate time of their available trips.

Overall, if you intend to spend several days in Baguio to witness the entire celebration of the Panagbenga Flower Festival, it is highly advised that you should plan your trip in advance. And, one of the most important part of your plan is to book for an early accommodation. You have to know that the accommodations in the city tends to become fully-booked during the week of the festival.