DAGUPAN City Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr. said on Thursday that the huge crowd that turned out to witness the Dagupan Bangus Festival from day one was very inspiring.

The Dagupan Bangus Festival started with a bang on April 16 and ended last Sunday.

Rains marred the highlight events, the Bangusan ed Dagupan and
the Festivals of the North Grand Street Dancing on April 26 and 30 but overall, the festival was stunning success and “achieved its purpose”, according to Fernandez.

He said the festival not only promoted the city’s number one product, bangus, to the world but also Dagupan as an important tourism and investment destination.

With its featured “Festivals of the North”, the Bangus Festival also fostered regional solidarity and cooperation and enhanced the preservation of cultural heritage through songs, dances, arts and sports, he said.

It rained on April 30 soon after the Bangusan Street Party was opened but as soon as the downpour stopped, the multitude that earlier came and left, returned to the streets to jam all night till morning, with up to nine top bands from Metro Manila providing the music in stages along A.B. Fernandez Avenue.

“Overall, it was a stunning success as many people, including visitors, kept on telling me,” Fernandez confided.

Fernandez was himself among the many spectators who saw the events nightly from day one, explaining that he was enthralled at seeing people happy and really enjoying.

The mayor said he will favorably endorse the earlier proposal for the formation of a Bangus Festival Foundation to institutionalize the yearly festival and make it part of the cultural heritage of the people in the years to come.

He said also to be institutionalized is the ‘Gilon-Gilon’ dance depicting the popular way of harvesting bangus which was introduced by Vice Mayor Fernandez in 1997, then city councilor, when she was chairman of the 50th Golden Year celebration of Dagupan.