VILLASIS—This town, widely acknowledged as the vegetable bowl of Pangasinan, staged anew its “Talong” Festival last Friday to showcase its extensive eggplant farming.

Mayor Nonato Abrenica said the ‘Talong Festival’ is part of the town fiesta celebration drawing a huge crowd of local and overseas residents and visitors from other towns and neighboring Urdaneta City.

Abrenica happily announced that the town’s Talong Festival, though only in its third year of staging , was already included in the official events calendar of the Philippine Tourism Authority.

Among the other fiesta activities were street dancing, cook fest, float parade, float parade and grilling of eggplants in the street.

The mayor said eggplant is planted in 355 hectares of land in the town. Of the 21 barangays of Villasis, 12 produce eggplants.

Eggplants are brought to the town’s vegetable market where traders from various parts of the country and Manila converge to buy in bulk. (PNA)