Memoirs of Yvonne: Kaamulan Festival 2006

KAAMULAN FESTIVAL - My much awaited event for this month! It’s a month long celebration then (soft opening held last February 12, grand opening on March 3, and culmination on March 10). Kaamulan is now among the Philippines’ major festivals and the only “ethnic festival” in the country, according to the Department of Tourism. It is Bukidnon’s major tourist attraction with ethnic street dancing competitions as the highlight. What a perfect timing last Saturday then, I was able to get a ride with my colleagues who were to depart CDO as early as 5:00 a.m. to set our Philcom Booth at the Kaamulan Bazaar. Lucky me ‘coz I was also able to catch up the Kaamulan Street Dancing! Wahooo!!

A couple of hours after I got home came another batch of friends (Judith, Lynette, Normy & NJ) who really took that 2-hour travel from CDO to Malaybalay just to witness the festival. Yippeee! Daghan na mi mag laag-laag! Hehehe! We headed immediately to the Capitol Grounds where the Street Dancing finale took place, and where the haven of trade fairs showcasing Bukidnon’s cutflower, livestock and agri-food industries could be marveled upon. Thousands of people filled in the entire arena. Based on DOT’s 2005 estimates, at least 100,000 visitors arrived for the festival last year, and much more is expected this year. In the last three years, Bukidnon’s hotels and inns declared full occupancy during the Kaamulan celebration with domestic and foreign guests. And this year’s number of visitors even surpassed last year’s records! Whew!

There are lots of other activities in the list -- the kaamulan bazaars, sports tournaments, rodeo shows, nightly musical, dance and entertainment shows, battle of the bands, motorcross, shootfest, song writing clinic, foodfest, the 1st National Folklore Conference, Bansagen (an exhibit of Bukidnon contemporary art by a group of local artists), Kaamulan 21-kilometer open marathon competition from Valencia City to Malaybalay City, and a lot more. We would have wanted to witness all these activities, but my.. we really lacked time hehehe! So we just enjoyed strolling and hopping from one bazaar to another, sight-seeing those cultural & ethnic displays on the stalls, and bought some souvenir items. We then headed down to the Kaamulan Grounds and enjoyed horseback riding. Our hungry stomachs then brought us to Pine Creek Café (as the name implies, it’s indeed located beside a creek down there at the cool kaamulan grounds). After we have refueled our stomachs, we proceeded up hill to witness the Off-Road Challenge.

At the end of the day, we felt as though we were all drenched out with sweat due to that infuriating kaamulan pre-summer heat hehe! So we proceeded home to freshen up, changed outfit, wore our newly bought Kaamulan shirts (tsaddaaannn!!), and enjoyed the fruit-picking session at our backyard, hahaha! Soon after our short bonding activity, it was time for my friends to depart Malaybalay, kay round trip lang man sila.. back to CDO on that same day. Hmmn.. ‘till your next visit, peps! Liko-liko kawra!