THEY all gave their best but certainly only one stood out as the “best among the best” in Wednesday’s street dancing competition called “Gilon-Gilon ed Baley”, the curtain-raiser for the 19-day Dagupan Bangus Festival 2008.

Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr. and Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez, chair of the executive committee for this year’s festival, handed the first prize trophy to barangay Mangin for its dancers’ perfect execution of the interpretation of “Gilon-Gilon”, a primitive but still most effective method of harvesting bangus.

The win awarded Mangin the top prize of P80,000 and a rare chance to represent Dagupan City in the featured ‘Festival in the North’ on April 26 as aprt of the Bangus Festival.

Aside from this, Dagupan’s champion street dancers bagged another P20,000 as the judges’ choice for “best in choreography”.

The “Festival of the North” will pit other festival street dancing champions towns and cities and provinces in the Ilocos Region and Cordillera against each other, with the winner guaranteed the top prize of P150,000.

Mangin was among 26 of the 31 Dagupan barangays that saw action during the opening of the festival, which is actually a marketing promotion strategy for the city’s tasty bangus.

First runner-up in the “Gilon-Gilon ed Baley” was Bolosan, represented by Dancers of the Judge de Jose de Venecia Sr. Memorial National High School that bagged P60,000, plus another P20,000 for having the “best choreographer”.

Second runner-up for P50,000 was barangay Lucao, followed by third runner-up Dagupan City National High School that bagged P40,000 and another P20,000 for “best in costume”.

Fourth runner-up was barangay Pogo Chico which got P30,000 for its effort.